May 2021
Genuine Leaders are Authentic with a High Level of Leadership Consciousness.
You will lead your company to success when you are an Authentic & Conscious Leader.
We truly need Authentic Leaders, says author Bill George in “Authentic Leadership”! It is proven that Authentic Leaders in Mission-driven companies create far greater shareholder value than those that are purely financially oriented.
Authentic Leaders are clear on Purpose. They live by their Core Values & Lead with Heart. Authentic Leaders Nurture Relationships, and are Self-Disciplined.
Conscious Leaders bring their whole self into their Leadership position. Being self-aware requires Authenticity. Consciousness & Authenticity support each other.
Conscious Leaders lead with a focus on “WE”. Not on “ME”.
They know that their role is to create a culture of Transparency, Trust, Respect and Care.
With an Authentic and Conscious Leadership style, your influence will be widespread, positive & successful. These valuable leadership traits can be learned! HOW?
PM me or book a FREE Executive Leadership Mentoring Consultation
About the author
Anders BE Eklund is Executive Leadership Mentor & Coach at Geneswiss Consultancy, an international coaching and consulting firm situated in Zurich, Switzerland.
May 2021
7 Reasons Why You Should Spend ME-TIME
When I talk about the importance of ME-Time to the majority of my new clients, I often hear comments like, “I’m too busy to make time for myself,” or “I already spend too little time with my family, now I will spend even less time with them.”
Booking ME-Time into your calendar isn’t a waste of time. On the contrary, it is integral. The more hectic one’s schedule is, the more time one should spend investing in themselves and the pleasures of life. It allows one to release tension, take a breath, and refocus. Time like this is only beneficial! A multitude of studies proves this.
I always hold my clients accountable to take ME-Time in and out of office hours as a discipline, as this is one of the keys to becoming the best version of themselves – an Authentic Leader.
HERE ARE 7 REASONS FOR SPENDING ME-TIME
1. ME-Time increases productivity
Studies show that we perform better when we have privacy. It can be a massive productivity-killer to spend consistent time working without breaks, especially in open-floor plan offices that can be full of distracting factors. Hence, utilizing ME-Time, aka taking short breaks to walk around the block, have a snack, listen to some music, etc. (whatever helps you unwind!) during office hours, will indeed increase your level of productivity.
2. ME-Time sparks creativity and innovation
Spending ME-Time gives your thoughts a chance to wander. It allows you to consciously AND subconsciously process the overwhelming amount of information coming at you today. Therefore it gives you the chance to take a step back, find a new point of view, find innovative solutions, and creative ideas. Steve Jobs called it “Connecting the dots”.
3. ME-Time is necessary for strategic thinking
The scarcity of time for Strategic thinking is what I often discuss with my clients. Many say that they don’t have the time to dedicate themselves to thinking strategically. But why is that? It is not that they don’t recognize the value of setting aside time to think strategically; the hard truth is that many simply don’t have the discipline to book it into their schedule. Spending ME-Time is the key to think strategically. Hence, I instruct all my executive leadership clients to secure regular ME-Time for strategic thinking.
4. ME-Time helps you build mental strength
As social creatures, we need to have strong connections with other people. But ME-Time is seen as equally important. Spending valuable time with oneself is linked to improve stress management, finding satisfaction in life, increased serotonin release (the happiness hormone!), and overall, making a person more likable and enjoyable.
5. ME-Time increases empathy
Spending many hours with the same group of people (could be colleagues or friends) can cause one to consciously or subconsciously, develop an inclination of “We vs. Them” mentality. Contrary to what many believe, spending ME-Time actually allows you to develop a better understanding of people, and thereby make one more compassionate. It forces one to reflect on the behavior of others and as a result, makes you more considerate towards people who may not “fit” into your view of your “Inner Circle”. Ultimately, you become a better person, parent, spouse, friend, colleague, and Leader.
6. ME-Time helps you know yourself.
Spending ME-Time helps you become more comfortable in your skin. Time alone will develop your sense to listen to your inner voice telling you who you are, your preferences, your values, and your goals. Learn to know the person you see in the mirror. Moreover, when alone you can make choices without external influences.
7. ME-Time gives a window of clarity to find and maintain your purpose
Unfortunately, many can spend an entire lifetime without having found their true purpose, therefore do not get the most out of the beautiful thing called life. Spending ME-Time gives one a chance to ensure that they are connected to their purpose and that all of what they are doing, or let’s say, should be doing, give them meaning. ME-Time enables you to think about your goals, progress, and the potential changes you want to make in your life.
Do you struggle?
Do you struggle with fitting Me-Time into your schedule? Or perhaps you don’t know how to make the most of your Me-Time?
If that is the case, feel free to reach out to me, an experienced Executive Leadership Mentor & Coach for a helping hand.
Use this Link to my Executive Leadership Mentoring/Coaching programs or message me here on LinkedIn. Thank you!
About the author
Anders BE Eklund is Executive Leadership Mentor & Coach at Geneswiss Consultancy, an international coaching and consulting firm situated in Zurich, Switzerland.
June 2019
Purpose-Driven Companies Evolve Faster Than Others
“PURPOSE MOVES US”
“Our purpose is to use the power of sport to move the world forward. We believe in a fair, sustainable future—one where everyone thrives on a healthy planet and level playing field.” – NIKE Inc.
It is unarguably true that bigger and better work is not delivered by a large number of employees but a purposeful workforce. More so, companies and businesses fare well when the purpose of their existence is as clear as the name of their buildings, not just another page of their HR handbooks.
PURPOSE BRINGS PROFIT
In 2015, a research by the E.Y. Beacon Institute and Harvard Business School shows that companies that lead with purpose are more likely to be profitable. During a three-year follow-up period, 85% of the purpose- driven companies showed positive growth while 42% of the non-purpose driven companies showed a drop in revenue.
In 2018 Accenture’s 14th annual Global Consumer Pulse Research, 63% of consumers surveyed worldwide prefered to purchase products and services from companies which stand for a purpose that reflects their own values and beliefs. The same customers will avoid companies that don’t. Purpose brings profit.
THE DEEPER MEANING OF ANY BUSINESS
Since a few years, many company leaders have it on their “to-do-list” to look for a deeper meaning in why the business exists in the first place. Almost everyone from business leaders to employees knows “WHAT” the company is doing and “HOW” they are doing it. Unfortunately, all too many don’t know “WHY”! Why are they doing what they are doing? In other words, a clear business purpose is not instilled.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF YOUR COMPANY?
The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland, defines purpose as “a company’s core reason for being. The organization’s single underlying objective unifies all stakeholders and embodies its ultimate role in the broader economic, societal and environmental context.”
Business owners and leaders implementing the purpose “as a tool” are benefiting unexpectedly with this relatively new approach. Focusing on the core benefits, which their companies bring to the world, turns out to be a valuable tool for managers when building strategy and increasing employee motivation. Having this strong sense of shared purpose turns out to be a key comparative advantage.
THE POWER OF PURPOSE
The fact is, individuals and companies with clarity of company purpose are the world changers. Leaders, marketers, entrepreneurs, and individuals who understand the power of purpose are the positive change-makers today and of tomorrow, they are the ones who would harvest the sweet fruits from properly defined company purpose.
Five of these are listed below:
1. Generate Healthier Profits
2. Gain A Competitive Edge
3. Increase Employee Engagement
& Customer Loyalty
4. Attract the Best Talent. Especially generations Y and Z
5. Create a Culture of Excellence
Looking at these five obvious benefits, it should not come to anyone’s surprise that more and more of company leaders have now started to focus “again” on healthy and welcome approach in this shortsighted quarter by quarter environment we live in today. Purpose really drives result and success!
SHOULD SMALL BUSINESSES CARE ABOUT “THE PURPOSE”?
Is the understanding of the deeper meaning of: why a company exists, only useful for big corporates?
Absolutely not! A small business owner should very much care about the company’s purpose! I have talked to and worked with numerous entrepreneurs, and you would be surprised to know how many of them don’t have a company purpose statement. Not to mention their own personal purpose statement.
My observations and unobstructed views to why so many startups and small companies fail have revealed that one of the biggest building blocks for success – The Purpose – is missing! Not necessarily by intention, but by the lack of understanding of its real power in driving a company forward and upwards.
ENTREPRENEURS! – MAKE “THE PURPOSE” A CENTRAL FOCUS!
Entrepreneurs who succeed are those who know exactly where they are headed and why. It is up to you to use this sense of purpose to shape the destiny of your business. The needed time to crystallize and clarify your company’s driving force – the company purpose – is surprisingly short. According to my experience, it takes between 1 to 2 days.
Entrepreneur, make “the purpose” a central focus. Grow your business by inspiring every single person around you.
Money motivates neither the best people nor the best in people. Purpose does. – Nilofer Merchant
Thank you!
This article can also be seen in the Swiss Entrepreneurs Magazine # 11
About the author
Anders BE Eklund is Executive Leadership Mentor & Coach at Geneswiss Consultancy, an international coaching and consulting firm situated in Zurich, Switzerland.
December 2018
TODAY’S LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT – A BLACK HOLE?
Companies are focusing on developing the leaders of the future, or are they?
The data in the “Global Leadership Forecast 2018” 1) shows that the organisations of the world are annually spending more than $50 billion on developing their leaders. Despite of this staggering number, many companies still don’t have leaders who can deliver on future business goals. Thus, this enormous spending and investment just “disappears” without giving visible results.
CEO’s poor Leadership talents
A staggering 86% of world CEOs do not have the leadership talents to execute their strategy!
Out of today’s Leadership models and development programs only a few are tied to business goals. Even worse, there is only little evidence that they actually work. What is needed is a coherent, integrated leadership strategy to ensure that companies have the right talent and the right capabilities to deliver today, tomorrow and in the future.
Yet, perplexingly, 33% of the HR professionals who are surveyed for the “Global Leadership Forecast 2018” 1) feel that their organisations have an effective leadership strategy!
Furthermore, companies which do have leadership strategies in place report better returns on their investment in talent. They consistently feature deeper leader bench strength and stronger leaders at all levels.
Developing next generation leaders
When some 1,000 C-level executives worldwide 1) were asked about issues they expect to dominate their attention to in the coming years, their biggest concerns were not global issues like political instability, climate change, terrorism, or a global recession but matters of own leadership.
Out of the 28 challenges from which they could choose, the highest priority C-level executives have with 64%, is to develop next generation leaders. On second place (60%) is how to not fail in attracting and retaining top talents.
This is healthy, but how to tackle these challenges?
HR professionals are painting a bleak future
In the same forecast 1), 2,500 HR professionals are painting a bleak picture for our future. They express their deep concern by saying that identifying and developing future talents must be the most elevated and critical ability for our leaders.
A significant shortcoming exists and closing the gap above is urgent in the coming years. On one hand, this existing gap is about the criticality of the leadership skills and on the other hand of the leaders’ own assessment of their ability to successfully master the task.
Further, in terms of quality, the result of HR professionals’ assessments of their organisation’s leadership-development-program, were lower than the same of the leaders’. Simply put, these professionals do not signal a bright future.
Here in numbers what HR professionals say about their organisation’s leadership development programs:
- 31% have a weak or nonexistent relationship between annual strategic plans and their own plans about growing leadership talent.
- 65% do not think that their leaders have high-quality and effective development plans.
- 50% do not have well-integrated and strategically aligned leadership development programs or processes in place.
- 78% see their leadership career-planning/pathing systems as only moderately effective or even worse.
- 48% do not use information from assessments and simulations to make leadership hiring and promotion decisions.
- 35% do not have a program to develop high potentials, and 45% of those that do, do not measure the effectiveness of the programs.
- 73% do not exercise consequences when leaders fail to develop leaders on their team.
- 52% do not know the up-to-date status of leadership-talent capability across the organisation.
Is today’s leadership development a huge Black Hole?
So why is it that $50 billions of annual spendings in leader- training results in this sad statistic? Is today’s leadership development a true black hole? It certainly looks like it.
I recently read an article by Chris Pearse, “Why leadership development is still stuck in the dark age” 2). Chris elaborates on the question “why doesn’t leadership development work today?”, and simultaneously offers us a way to make it truly effective.
His three principles for the transformation of today’s leaders are:
- Leaders need to master their personal leadership before they can lead anyone else
- Personal leadership requires Self-Awareness
- Self – Awareness is observation of your inner dynamics, in the moment.
In my opinion Chris Pearse is spot on.
Leadership should not only be measured by numbers
Great leadership is not only about the positive numbers on the bottom line. Sadly, many companies and leaders see it as the only way to express value and thus leadership developments are only focusing on creating “big” numbers. Don’t get me wrong, bottom line is important of course.
Ulf Johansson, leadership coach and a good friend of mine, has many times shared his wisdom with me by saying: “Where people grow – profit grows – and then I am not talking about money”.
Being a great leader is about also carrying other responsibilities and not only a result seen in numbers. The task of leaders is much bigger than that. It is their responsibility to make people, communities, organisations, the environment and even nations which he or she touches through his or her leadership, more successful. Generally, to make the world a better place today and tomorrow.
Leadership is about serving others
He who wants to become king in the future begins by learning how to serve. – Akan proverb on Kings
Great leadership is about serving others. This, one must whole-heartedly understand and live by. Great leaders act with others in mind. Great leaders give. Great leaders “live on” and leave a strong legacy. Being a great leader is a ‘calling’, not a job. Great leaders inspire us all to be better humans and propel us to reach our highest potential.
Experts behind the concepts of “Behavioral Theories” claim that people can become leaders through the process of teaching, learning and observation. According to them leadership is a set of skills that can be learned by training, perception, practice and experience over time.
Learning Leadership skills is an ongoing, life-long project.
However, getting trained is not enough. One must also seek to become a better person by own will. There are way too many people in managerial positions who unfortunately will never reach a leadership level. Why is this? It is because they don’t like to, or even want to, listen to other people’s advice and recommendations. Their ego just doesn’t allow it. They spend their days living in their own “bubble”. A behavior which prevents them from exploring and reaching their truest and highest potential as leaders. And to be honest, also as human beings.
My passion and contribution
I am passionate about my programme, “Leadership 2 Success (TM)”; not only business-wise but also personally. Through my own hard work and gained experience, I know that great leadership inevitably leads to amazing success stories.
That is why I love to share my experience and want to teach this important art to as many as I can around the world. I say to my clients “Leadership is simple, but it is hard work”.
Great leadership always starts from the person in the mirror
I have never believed in the saying that “Leaders are born.” All leaders are made! Hence, it is crucial to surround yourself with the right kind of supportive people. People who genuinely and wholeheartedly want to help you to grow and become a better person – a great leader.
Great leadership always starts from the man or the woman in the mirror. This is why I am a coach in the Noble Business of Creating Great Leaders.
Thank you!
About the author
Anders BE Eklund is Executive Leadership Mentor & Coach at Geneswiss Consultancy, an international coaching and consulting firm situated in Zurich, Switzerland.
References
1. Global Leadership Forecast 2018: “25 Research Insights to Fuel Your People Strategy” by DDI, The Conference Board and EY. https://www.ddiworld.com/glf2018
2. Chris Pearse, “Why Leadership Development Is Still Stuck In The Dark Ages”, Forbes, November 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrispearse/2018/11/19/why-leadership-development-is-stuck-in-the-dark-ages/#405480f57523
September 2018
WHO IS CONTROLLING YOUR PRODUCTS?
Also Published at nextageadvisory.com
Who is controlling your products? This is an easy question! Customers are! But are they? And should they? The answer is: Yes! Building great products is all about what the customer needs. Customers are the actual users of your products, as such they are the ones who derive value from the solutions.
Ideally, your customers should love your products. But who is responsible for ensuring that this “love-affair” will take place? That person is the “Product Manager“.
The Product Manager – or as we at NEXTAGE Advisory Services prefer to call the position: The Chief Product Officer (CPO) – has the ultimate responsibility for understanding the needs of the customer, whether that represents current or prospective situations. This understanding will be obtained from various intelligence and feedback streams from the field and from the company’s internal processes.
Having this ultimate responsibility, the CPO sits on a very important organizational role. A role not to be confused with or compared to a CTO (Chief Technology Officer). The CPO is responsible for the strategy, roadmap and the feature definition for a product or product line. Additionally and equally important for the wholeness of the work are tasks like forecasting and P&L (profit and loss), that also should fall under the responsibilities.
Who in your company is managing your products?
No other executive in a company is truly chartered with knowing the customer needs and product features as deeply as a CPO. Without this dedicated function, customers could end up with a product which is essentially equipped with all kinds of features, but truly not for the real need and purpose.
All too often, what happens in companies without this CPO-function and thus crucial customer understanding and deep product knowledge, is that their R&D and Engineering departments just crank out feature enhancements and added complexities to a product, in order to make customers happy. Such activity is usually based on input from the sales department and sadly; without the vital product management intermediary. A direct customer -to- developer pipeline can result in an endless chain of random additions. A very costly exercise and on top of that it entails loss of customers satisfaction.
Put simply, the role of a CPO is to balance strategies and tactical enhancements for the company’s long-term success. So, I repeat the question: who in your company is managing your products?
How to reclaim control of your products
If you have recognized the need of a better control of your product strategy and product management, NEXTAGE Advisory Services can help you and knows exactly how to go forward.
NEXTAGE Advisory Services, with our vast experience of Products and a long experience of leadership in several industries, will help your company to define your product strategy, implement it and successfully execute it. We speed up the actions and know how to motivate an organization to work towards common goals.
Our client-product-based approach differentiates NEXTAGE Advisory Services from other actors on the market. We believe that your product and your visions around it are what makes your company truly unique. We can promise you a greater understanding of innovation and its financial impact on your business today and in the future. This is the key for staying ahead of your competition on the market and to increase your profitability.
Anders BE Eklund is Executive Leadership Mentor & Coach at Geneswiss Consultancy, an international coaching and consulting firm situated in Zurich, Switzerland.
July 2018
The Business of Communicating – one reason why your business isn’t making as much as it could
The communication that goes on within the company itself essential to its success and a failure to communicate is costly.
So how can we avoid potential communication failures that threaten the livelihood of our businesses? The answer to this question is a key area that every business need to address in order to reach its full potential.
To eliminate miscommunication within your business, you must first determine the best way for your executives, managers, teams and employees to receive information from you.
Communication is a vital tool within your company and when incorrectly managed miscommunication will disrupt day to day business and drain resources.
In this article, we’ll look at three strategies that will help you strengthen the control of your company’s communication and ensure that it doesn’t fall victim to miscommunication:
Teach them how to best communicate with you
Before you can determine the best way to communicate with your employees, you must first take a hard look at your own communication style.
By assessing which forms of communication, you respond to best, you can prepare your team to communicate with you in the most effective way.
So, how do you prefer to communicate?
A seemingly simple question to answer, but everyone has a different style of communication and what works for one person may not be suited for another. Ask yourself:
- Do you prefer to communicate face to face in order to be able to gauge the emotional subtext and facial cues that accompany conversations?
- Do you prefer speaking with your employees via telephone so that you can still pick up on the tonality of their responses?
- Do prefer written communication as it gives you time to gather your thoughts to ensure that nothing is omitted from the message you are trying to convey?
By first determining your preferred communication style, you can then tailor your interactions with team members to be more effective and productive.
Your business will thrive when you take control of the conversation and convey your message utilizing the communication style that suits you best.
Understand how your team best receives information
Once you have figured out how you communicate best, it is time to discover the way in which your employees and your teams best receive information.
When vital information is not received in a timely manner it can be costly to a business and the time lost can never be regained. Therefore, to prevent miscommunication, you must find out the best way to reach your employees.
To do this it requires a diligence on your part.
Take the time to understand what it is that your team wants to know. They may be highly analytical and want to understand facts and figures, or they may be more sociable and need to be addressed using emotional language.
Once you know the best way to reach your team, the likelihood of miscommunication will decrease significantly. A great way to do this in a cost-effective manner is to use online personality quizzes (this one is good).
With that understanding of your team’s personality types, you can them tailor how you communicate with them in the most efficient way possible.
Control the Flow of Communication
One of the biggest drains of motivation for humans is not understanding the purpose of work you do. It’s vital that information flows freely from the top down in terms of strategies and objectives.
After those systems have been set-up, you must then ascertain how those under you can communicate with those above them and decide how accessible you will be to your employees and if they have to go through others before reaching you.
When you have succeeded in controlling the flow of communication, then you can finally take additional steps to prevent miscommunication throughout your entire organisation.
The way in which communication flows within your company is essential to its success and it is up to you to decide how it will move from employee to employee. There’s a huge variety of ways to structure this. Try out different approaches and keep what you like and get rid of what you don’t, the three main styles are:
- Circular: The executives sit in “the middle” of the circle, and the rest of the team can approach them with suggestions and comments any time they like
- Siloed: Each department (or team) is the “captain of the ship” and makes decisions based on what’s based for that team. Each of the “captains” meet regularly to discuss what’s been happening, objectives that they’re aiming for, and how new strategies are working out
- Layered: A staggered approach where you first communicate with your executives, who then in turn speak with managers, before your message is then communicated with the rest of your employees
Each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses. By taking the time to examine how communication flows within your organisation, you can take an active stance when it comes to preventing miscommunication
Prevent Miscommunication
By implementing these three strategies, you are already well on your way to eliminating miscommunication within your organisation. Here they are once again:
- Understand yourself: Figure out how people should best communicate with you. Once they can efficiently give you information that’s easy for you to process, you can make informed decisions faster
- Understand the team: Being able to communicate the decisions you make to your team in a way that they understand is something that sounds obvious, but rarely works in practice. Once it’s clear how your team likes to receive information, they can then accurately implement the decisions you and your executives make
- Understand your business: Once you’re all communicating ultra-effectively with one another you need to figure out the best way to control the flow so that it’s clear whoneeds to know what
Eliminating miscommunication in your company is a necessary process that must be dealt with if your true potential is to be realised. The effects it will have on your organisation may not be apparent at first, though in the long run the analysis and reflection of your own communication style and that of your employees will be beneficial to everyone involved.
As a leader the choice is yours, will miscommunication run rampant at your company or will you take control of the conversation?
Anders BE Eklund is Executive Leadership Mentor & Coach at Geneswiss Consultancy, an international coaching and consulting firm situated in Zurich, Switzerland.
November 2017
63% of employees don’t have a clear under-standing of the company Vision – here’s why!
Vision – what is it really?
What is a “vision” really? The Latin word “vīsiō” means; “vision or seeing”. So, vision then is something one thinks, sees or what one can imagine, right?
If you are a company owner and/or leader, isn’t vision then ultimately your dream, the broad view, of how your company is going to make a difference in the universe, an impact on customers and the wider community? Yes, it definitely is.
Understanding the company vision
If you google words “meaning of company vision” it gives you about 229 000 000 results. I am not going to quote all of them, but sum it all with: It is to provide your members with a clear sense of what the future looks like, why you are doing things today for the future. Majority of us knows this. Or do we?
A vision is only a word until someone acts on it. “Ok, I know that”, you think. Nevertheless, that this is not the case with all company/business leaders out there.
Why´s that? Here’s why! It is statistically proven, in numerous international studies, that a staggering 63% of employees don’t have a clear understanding of what their company is trying to do and why. In other words, they don’t understand the company vision! No wonder that 63% of all companies don’t prosper to their full potential. Or, in worst case, vanish from the surface of earth.
63% – Is it a communication issue?
“The most powerful person in the world is the story teller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” – Steve Jobs
Truly great communication skills bring infinite rewards. When people like you, they naturally allow you to connect on a deeper level and they willingly give you their time and their effort. When two persons bond on a deeper emotional level, they start to build trust and respect for each other.
Most of us have a basic physical need to connect with other people and thus we greatly benefit emotionally from closeness and relationships.
No surprise then that as a leader your message must inspire others to achieve great results. How successfully you perform depends on how well you communicate. To be inspiring, one must be authentic, empathetic and engaging. One needs to articulate an inspiring vision with precision. In other words, great communication is about creating feelings and not only telling facts.
Simply said, one must be a great story teller. Why? We have all experienced how time and space disappear when listening to someone with a great story teller gift. We are affected emotionally.
But hold on! Is great story telling the answer to the fact that 63% of employees don’t have a clear understanding of company vision? I suggest you read on.
The Leadership Cliff
Oxford Economics and SAP fielded a pair of global surveys in 27 countries during the second quarter of 2014—one of more than 2,700 executives and the other of over 2,700 employees. The surveys show that leadership is falling short in many ways, and years of training in the typical leadership programs have not helped.
Several factors influence it but all too often, the importance of people management to corporate strategy is not reflected by its role in the C-suite and boardroom. And many companies lack the culture and tools they need to engage employees, track performance, and measure the effectiveness of initiatives.
The Neuroscience of Leadership
For approximately a decade now scientists have studied to understand how the nervous system – and brain – work in leadership. These neuroscience studies have greatly brought light in this field and start now helping us to unravel the physiology of effectiveness in leadership. Why these studies are so vital is because a foundational piece was missing from modern times leadership: the understanding of the brain.
Managing a business or organizations in the 21st century is as challenging as ever. To convey your vision, in order to allow your employees to have a clear understanding of what the company is trying to do and why, is a great challenge and not at all easy. Especially if we rely on traditional and perhaps outdated approaches.
So, understanding what drives behavior, leveraging the strengths and limitations of the brain, and managing the impact of this in the workplace offers a new vantage point for leaders and organizations. The Neuroscience of Leadership.
Missing piece for successfully communicating the company vision
During my years in the corporate world and now as executive coach I have read numerous articles, as well books about effective leadership and how-to communicate to inspire. Simply, I have been trying to find answers to how to lead for success in the best and most effective way. To convey one’s vision of the future for everyone to understand and share.
Despite my studies, I have been missing a piece in the puzzle. The key for my own toolbox. A toolbox I now also use to help my own customers excel. A toolbox that in my opinion generally has also been missing in “the world of great leadership”.
Now I have it. The missing piece has appeared. The “universe” has served it to me on a “golden plate”.
I have now been trained to coach corporate management using “The Corporate Consciousness Program”. A program unique in its nature, also incorporating latest neuroscience knowledge. I.e., the emotional intelligence and the biological model of adaptability to bring forth vision, leadership, management execution and organizational transformation in a way that will propel any business to whole new levels of achievements and success.
All set for great success. But there is more. Please read on!
The final piece
In my great eager and joy of having successfully found the missing piece, as described above, I bought the book “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself” by Dr. Joe Dispenza. He is an international lecturer, researcher, corporate consultant, author, and educator and he is driven by the conviction that each of us has the potential for greatness and unlimited abilities.
Reading this book, and particularly about the connection between the consciousness and sub-consciousness you, it suddenly struck me. This is where leaders go wrong when they are trying to communicate the company vision!
They don’t understand how the conscious and subconscious mind really work in us human beings! If they would, the 63% of employees not understanding what their company is trying to do and why (“the Vision”), would certainly be much less!
How the human brain really works
This is a huge area to cover so I will simplify and shorten it a great – great deal. However, I am sure you will get the point in the end.
We all are, at all times, 95% “driven” by our subconscious mind. A mind that is fully developed to do the 95% of “work” when we reach the age of 35. We don’t even think about it. It happens automatically. Just think about when you drive a bicycle. Do you actively think about how to do it, once you have learned how? No, don’t think so.
When a change, learning new, is to take place in our life´s all start in the conscious brain – the Neocortex. The brain influencing 5% of what we do.
After being repeatedly exposed to the same “learning”, including the physical feeling in our body, we create a permanent memory. A memory that is located in the Cerebellum and our body. Being repeatedly exposed for a long time we create a new habit.
What has this to do with understanding company vision? What´s the missing peace?
Where leaders go wrong – My solution
As I wrote earlier about leaders: They don’t understand how the conscious and subconscious mind really work in us human beings.
To get from learning/understanding something new to creating a permanent understanding, a so-called memory, especially of something as abstract as a Vision, a physical deeply memorable event must take place!
According to the latest understanding of neuroscience, it is only then we can fully embrace something as abstract as a vision, a vision conveyed by another person, a leader in our case.
My question to you
Here is my question to you all who have had the patience to read this far:
When have you as a leader, engaged with your colleagues, peers and employees on a really deep and emotional level when communicating your company Vision?
On a level that has made you really emotionally exhausted. So exhausted that your audience has jointly been standing up, every single one of them, praising you for having made a deep emotional impact on them about their future in the company. An impact that made them understand the company Vision with their whole heart, body and soul.
Bring it all together
The Corporate Consciousness Program is built on Dr. Joe Dispenza´s findings in the field of using neuroscientific principles. This program addresses the shortcomings I have described above about understanding the company Vision. It has a process by which to follow up on progress of understanding and result. It has all what you need to succeed as leader. It helps your company prosper beyond your beliefs.
Geneswiss Consultancy uses this successful and proven Corporate Consciousness Program working with its clients. Contact us on info@geneswiss.com
Source; Corporate Consciousness Program (TM), by FutureWorks, Haavard Helmen
Anders Eklund
Managing Director
Geneswiss Consultancy
October 2017
Why some companies keep on prospering and some don´t?
What happened to companies like Nokia and Kodak is no secret. Vigilant competition crushed them!
In 2008, Nokia represented one of the most valuable brands in the world. The company acknowledged one year later that it was struggling and admitted it has been too slow to react to the change in the market. The likes of Apple and BlackBerry were slowly taking over. In September 2013, Nokia announced that their Devices & Services division will be sold to Microsoft.
The reasons behind Nokia´s fall have been discussed in length by many. The biggest reason that brought the Finnish mobile giant down was their unwillingness to embrace drastic change.
Kodak is another company often cited as an iconic example of a company that failed to grasp the significance of a technological evolvement that threatened its businesses. A transition that was happening right under Kodak´s nose.
Paradigm shifts
A paradigm shift is when a “major change” in a particular field happens. A crisis like this is always traced back to the fact that the old paradigm can no longer support and serve the existing evidence and a majority of people find it no more valid.
At the same time, there is typically strong enough evidence to indicate that a relatively new paradigm is a better one through which to view the up-dated evidence. At first, such new approaches are often rejected, even ridiculed.
Nokia and Kodak were slow, even unwilling, to the change in the market. They found themselves in a major paradigm shift and were crushed as a result.
Stuck in old traditions and believes
Most of today’s organizations are defined as a culture by their own traditions, habits and even by their limiting beliefs formed by their own experiences within their environment. They are for the most part reacting to change in habitual ways. They are usually relying on same “old” opinions and attitudes. Also, quite often blaming the environment and market conditions for their own difficulties or their lack of results.
Companies living by this culture are actually in a form of emergency mode, focusing on controlling and threats, trying to protect themselves from the things that can go wrong. Constantly trying to cope with everything that need their attention creates a stressful working environment where people feel that they never really get on top of things.
People, and thereby the companies, get stuck in old believes and don’t know how to get out. This is leading to stressful working environments and there is no room for growth. Very poor conditions to thrive.
A New Company Culture is a door to a New Future
Being defined by an inspiring vision of the future is exactly what allows successful organizations and companies to reach their goals, dreams and aspirations. Whatever their circumstances are.
The world of organizations should not be about living from the outside in, reacting to circumstances in their day-to-day corporate life. It should be about creating a new future that exhilarates the management team and lets the whole organization set sails towards a whole new horizon. It should be about creating a future to live in, which is all about expanding, growing, developing & creating opportunities and businesses aligned with a desired kind of future.
This will come natural to any organization in the very same moment when they believe and commit to a new future, beyond the perceived “reality” of today.
Introducing neuro science to the success equation
For every new thought we think, for every new choice we make, every new behavior we demonstrate, for every new experience we have and even for every new feeling we sense, there are neuro chemical changes that take place in our brain and body as a result of different interactions in our environment.
Our consciousness leaves an actual footprint into our brain called a synaptic connection that will physically change us and is henceforth the way we perceive the world causing us to act accordingly. We will always react according to how the world shows up for us, and it is through our perception we define our personal reality, which is all about our thoughts, actions, values and emotions.
For the organization, this is directly correlated to results, and only through a change in the way “the world” shows up for us and consequently a change in our thoughts, emotions and specific actions, will the organization be able to create different kind of results and a new future.
One of the absolutely most precious and valuable outcomes for any organization is the ability to consciously embrace change in the personal and organizational performance, aligned with the desired future.
Hence, introducing neuro science into the success-equation is the new way to make sure that companies prosper in today’s change intense environment.
Utilising the Corporate Consciousness Program
The new understanding of neuro science, organizational biology and methods to create change in personal and organizational performance, by the means of the Corporate Consciousness Program, will give the organizations every tool, method, structure, skill and proven system they will need to transform the organization and results to anything they want – consciously, by choice.
The most difficult tasks for any organization is to produce change while the organization is still functioning. The Corporate Consciousness Program also ensures that companies don’t lose any momentum in the day to day business and can continue to create and excel on their level of performance towards their goals and dreams from day one.
This program incorporates the paramount understanding of purpose driven organizations and adaptability for a change based on predictable futures from current results and behaviours.
Bring it all together
The Corporate Consciousness Program is the answer to successfully handle whatever change, challenge and even bigger paradigm shift a company might face and allow it to prosper and keep on prospering.
Geneswiss Consultancy
Geneswiss Consultancy uses this proven and successful Corporate Consciousness Program helping companies excel beyond believes. Contact us on info@geneswiss.com
Source; Corporate Consciousness Program (TM), by FutureWorks, Haavard Helmen
Anders Eklund
Managing Director
Geneswiss Consultancy
September 2017
There is never a second chance to make a good first impression! Neither in business nor in private life.
“My first impression of people is invariably right!” – Oscar Wild
Psychology studies reveal that first impressions are formed within the very first few seconds upon meeting face to face. A staggering 93% of people’s judgements about others are based on non-verbal input such as body language, whereas 7% is based on the content of what we say.
Making a good first impression has never before been so important as it is today. Why now and not before you might think? Well, the possibility of being accepted and liked in today’s competitive and hectic business world is very narrow. It doesn’t matter if it is as a colleague, business partner, CEO or supplier. If one doesn’t give out the right first impression within seconds, then the person that one wishes to impress may turn to the next in line. Someone with the right skills, eagerly awaiting the opportunity to set a good impression and win over that person.
Connecting with other people brings infinite rewards. If people like you, they naturally allow you to connect on a deeper level and they willingly give you their time and their effort. When two persons bond on a deeper emotional level, they start to build trust and respect for each other. In private life, it is called great friendship or, even ultimately, love.
Most of us have a basic physical need to connect with other people and thus we greatly benefit emotionally from closeness and relationship. When we connect as a community, the members provide strength and safety to each other. At work, like in team sports, it is called “working well together”. I prefer to refer to it as, “outstanding co-operation and team work”!
“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is a progress, and working together is a success.” – Henry Ford
Manners – “The socially correct way of acting”
“The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.” – Fred Astaire
One of the first lessons children should learn from their parents is the importance of manners and etiquette.
What is the definitions of manners then? Manners is defined as “The socially correct way of acting; etiquette. Old saying goes “good manners cost nothing” and good manners are vital both professionally and personally.
When looking around today, it makes one think: Has it become acceptable to be rude?
Good manners, the etiquette, are not just about saying please and thank you. Nor knowing which fork or knife to use at the dinner table. True manners and etiquette go well beyond that. It is the true fundamental quality that comes from within us. It encompasses many values and aspects. It includes empathy, courtesy, kindness, compassion and consideration for those who are around us. It is about being polite and respectful and making the people you interact with feel valued.
“Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” – Emily Post
What can good manners do for you?
Practicing good manners makes you more confident, and increases awareness of your surroundings. People see you as a magnet and are drawn towards you. Being sympathetic towards others, and not making fun of anyone’s weaknesses but playing to their strengths will take you a long way in life. Your attitude and confidence will determine the way you look at things and react to particular situations. These come from the practice of good manners and etiquette, which are among the stepping-stones of success in life.
Manners represent your inner self, whereas etiquette is what and how you portray yourself to the public. One represents your way of acting, and the other is how you treat others. They touch every aspect of our lives, and very much ought to be ingrained into our minds since we were children. Is it holding a door for someone or offering a seat to an elderly person. These manners, gestures if you like, make you feel good too.
The way you behave and conduct yourself reflects your personality. Your eye contact, the way you greet others, and most importantly, your smile, are the things people notice about you.
Manners depict your character and express your attitude as well as the way you treat other people, be they your superior, peer, or subordinate. The Golden Rule states “Treat others the way you would want them to treat you”.
“Good manners and etiquette help you earn respect!” – Philip Sykes
Bad manners are bad for business!
“It takes months, maybe years, to build a good relationship. It can take less than 1 minute to destroy it.” – Anders Eklund
Good business etiquette, why exercising good manners professionally is a career and business necessity? Essentially, rude behaviour is not only bad etiquette; it’s disrespectful and bad for business.
In business, good manners are not always recognised but bad manners certainly are. People buy into people. If they like you, they are more likely to want to do business with you. Excellent manners get you ahead of others who possess less or no manners, and you have an advantage.
Ultimately, when networking and meeting new people you are representing the company that you work for, you are an ambassador. Everything you say, do and wear, generates an image that is representative of that business. Making a bad impression on someone can be a costly mistake.
Rude behaviour is costly!
Impolite behaviour by management and employees not only damage a company’s reputation, it affects the company’s bottom line as well.
From the book “The Cost of Bad Behaviour”- How Incivility is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It”, by authors C. Pearson and C. Porath, we learn that more than 60 percent of customers who feel they have been treated rudely are less likely to repeat business, and over 90 percent will tell others about their unpleasant experience.
In an article by same authors, they say: “While managers are looking everywhere to cut costs and maximize productivity, chances are they are missing a potentially devastating expense: the cost of incivility. As employees exchange seemingly inconsequential inconsiderate words and deeds, productivity plummets and norms are shredded. If employees are behaving badly toward one another, it means that individuals and teams are losing time, effort, energy, focus, creativity, loyalty and commitment.”
In a Harvard Business Review article headlined “The Cost of Incivility” we read that when an employee feels he or she has been treated rudely, they may reduce their work effort by as much as 48 % and performance by an average of 66 %. These very staggering numbers make it clear. Rude behaviour is costly!
Countless businesses are trying to cut costs and increase productivity. However, many of them are failing to consider the shocking expense associated with bad manners in, and outside the workplace.
Business etiquette is not a “made up thing” but an asset of enormous value.
Those who bring in manners and etiquette consultants to their workplace, in order to make a survey and accordingly adjust, have quickly come to realise that business etiquette is not a “made up thing”, but an asset of enormous value. It increases the talent level of their employees, allowing for communication and cooperation flourish, improving their reputation and ultimately helping to greatly increase revenue and profit.
Bringing It All Together
Making a good first impression is inseparable from good manners and etiquette. When one has learned the value of good manners and etiquette, a good first impression comes automatically. Now it is up to you what you want to be and do.
“People will forget what you said and what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
Geneswiss Consultancy work together with British School of Etiquette to help you excel in your business, as well in your personal life. Contact us on https://geneswissconsultancy.com/#contact
Anders Eklund
Managing Director
Geneswiss Consultancy
August 2017
“Here’s why only focusing on Quarterly reports is losing you money”
The excitement of the quarterly report! An opportunity to see if the past three months have been “good” or “bad”. An opportunity to see if the strategy implemented is working or failing. A chance to pivot tactics and correct the course of the ship known as your business… or is it?
For me, what makes the world of engineering so exciting is the constant innovation. We are at the forefront of developing new tools, of creating bigger and better machines, changing the landscape of how our clients do business.
But the two are seemingly at odds. Innovation costs money, right? The quarterly report has a scarily huge number in bright red labelled “Research and Development (R&D)”. So what happens to R&D when we let the corporate accountants loose? You’ve guessed it – often your R&D budget gets cut to increase the earnings reported in the quarterly reports.
Now please don’t misunderstand. I am all for cost cutting and frankly, there are engineering and R&D departments that badly need it. However incorrect cost cutting in R&D will negatively impact the earnings shown in the quarterly reports.
Let me share the how and why by taking a quick look at the innovation cycle vs the business cycle and how you can dramatically increase earnings in the long run.
The Innovation Cycle vs The Business Cycle
Now we all know that one of the best ways to grow as a business is to find areas in which costs can be cut and save on expenditure. The saved expenditure can be re-allocated to a variety of areas such as to expand the sales team, invest in business development, or on-board new clients.
We also know that to stay competitive in the market, it’s important to innovate and build new products or upgrade the existing products.
The question that I’m asking you now is; how long is your innovation cycle and is that reflected in your quarterly report?
It took Boeing four years (in this news article, they estimate the delivery to be September 2003, it actually had its first flight in March 2004) to develop its 2nd generation 777 aircraft. Similarly, most automobile manufacturers take three years to innovate new cars.
Companies like Boeing stay at the top of the industry through understanding their timeframes and accounting for the fact that things are going to go wrong. Ironically, this isn’t how most engineering organisations operate.
Look at how the business cycle works. You (or the founder) had an idea for a product that the market hadn’t seen before, a widget that did something better than everything else. In the beginning your widget changed constantly as customers found new uses or had different needs that the widget could provide. In short, the business was innovation focussed first.
As the business found its target market and began its growth stage the innovation took a back seat whilst the company looked at how it could optimise itself. For example, streamlining processes and systems that had initially been haphazardly put together in the business’ early days.
By this point the stakes had been raised. There was staff that the founders had to worry about, there was a commitment to the clients, there were people that were dependent on the company making money, to survive. Thus, security and profitability became the most important traits of the business.
But, what does this mean for you and your business?
Short term savings vs Long-term earnings
Stagnation is what kills most businesses that reach the level you’re playing at. Eventually some young new company is going to come up with something that changes the face of the industry. Look at Elon Musk’s Tesla, the success of that company has forced the automotive industry to pivot into producing electric vehicles.
The main reason why your business is successful today is because you were once innovative. You had a new thing that people needed.
Your new thing is no longer as new as it once was. In every industry, especially in today’s connected world, eventually someone will invent something that is going to make your invention obsolete.
Unless you beat them to it!
Think about how long your innovation cycle is, and think about your long-term strategy. Where do you want the company to get to? If you can be the first to innovate on a product or idea, you’ll have market dominance, and dominance means increased earnings together with a bigger impact on the world and an increase in your corporate brand.
But that’s long-term, that’s a three to five-year journey.
The quarterly report shows a mere three-months of that journey. Sure, you can examine which departments are costing most to run and make changes based on that information, but, have you thought about it like this:
You are an investor in your own business.
You aren’t a trader looking for short-term gains, nor are you a gambler guessing on what will make money. You’re an investor, you’re playing the long game.
The problem that most businesses have is that they assume that “innovation” can’t be quantified. It’s easy to make decisions based on the quarterly report because that’s all numbers. But, what if you could quantify innovation.
What if you sat down and spent a day thinking about what metrics you could use to measure innovation? Here are some examples as to what I mean:
- Number of experiments run
- Number of prototypes created
- Number of failed tests
- Number of patents filed
- Number of new ideas generated
These are just general examples and to better understand your business we’d have to have a one-on-one chat. The point is that to find the long-term earnings in your business you need to be able to measure “innovation” with regards to your organisation.
“It´s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones that is most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin
I chose with the quote above from Darwin because it encapsulates the point of this article. The company that has the most money or the company that is the most streamlined will die in the long run. It’s the company that consistently innovates that will survive.
If 20 years ago, I told you that Kodak wouldn’t be a household name in the future would you have believed me? Or that Compaq Computers wouldn’t be around anymore?
Here are some recent examples. Pontiac closed its doors in 2008, video rental giant Blockbuster held on till 2011, DHL no longer operates in the US because it couldn’t keep up with the innovation of FedEx and UPS.
Quarterly reports only show you the short-term, to base long-term business decisions on data from those reports will save you money… in the short-term.
If you’re looking for long-term success, pay attention to the reports but think about how to integrate that data into your long-term strategy.
Anders Eklund
Managing Director
Geneswiss Consultancy