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Jim Bolt

February 4, 2008

The 5 Secrets

John Izzo and I are both members of an organization called The Learning Network. Among other things, the members support each other in various ways related to aligning work and life priorities; some might call it finding work/life balance, being “on purpose”, and just plain being happy. From my consulting work, I know these are topics that many executives and deeply concerned about.

So I was pretty jazzed when John sent me a copy of his newest book, The Five Secrets You Must Discover before You Die. The book is based on 235 interviews conducted with people aged 60-106 asking them to reflect back on their lives. He said that the purpose of the book was both to uncover the true secrets to happiness and meaning but also to kindle a conversation about eldership and to encourage people to seek the wisdom of the elders.

Each person interviewed was identified by friends and acquaintances as a person who they knew had found happiness and meaning in life. It turned out to include a very wide range of people from town barbers to aboriginal chiefs and CEOs.

So what are the Secrets?
1. Be true to yourself
2. Leave no regrets
3. Become love
4. Live the moment
5. Give more than you take

Needless to say there is a lot more to learn about each of these from the wise people John interviewed so I highly recommend you dig in -- for more information on the book, go to www.theizzogroup.com

Also, Dr. John Izzo and The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die were reviewed along side the movie The Bucket List staring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson by ListenUp TV, and if you’d like to see a video clip, go to Beyond the Bucket List: http://www.listenuptv.com/programs/080127bucket.shtml

Jim Bolt * Jbolt@executivedevelopment.com * www.executivedevelopment.com

Posted by Jim Bolt at 6:57 PM | Add Comment

January 21, 2008

Building Strong Networks: Part Three

This is the final segment of my three part interview with Mike Dulworth, author of The Connect Effect: Building Strong Personal, Professional, and Virtual Networks. Mike is CEO of Executive Networks, Inc. The powerful premise of Mike’s excellent book is that having a strong network is critical to success for leaders today. In parts one and two we covered these questions:
--What prompted Mike to write the book
--Why he thinks networking is so important today
--What he means by the “Connect Effect”
--What people who are really good at networking do that others don’t
--How to know if you are good at networking and if you have a good network
--Mike’s advice for leaders about using networks to improve their effectiveness

Here in part three I ask Mike about the concept of a personal board of directors and what he sees as the future of networking:

Jim: In the book, you mention the idea of having a personal board of directors, how does that work?
Mike: A PBOD mirrors a company board of directors in its composition and intent. The idea is to select from your network a small number (5-10) of diverse people that you turn to for important advice, counsel, coaching and mentoring. My PBOD includes my father, my best friend, a business colleague, a member of my company’s board, a cousin, my wife, an old boss and my college roommate. The members of your personal board care about you and are willing to help you with difficult personal problems, job and career challenges, etc. and provide sage advice and guidance.

Jim: What do you see when you think about the future of networking?
Mike: I asked this question to the over 30 people I interviewed for the book. They said that networking would become increasingly important in a VUCA world (a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). They said that reciprocity (the quid pro quo of networking) is the key to successful networking (whether face-to-face or virtual). They said that technology (mainly the Web and mobile devices) is going to transform networking in ways that we can’t imagine today. They said that the younger generations are going to change the world and solve many of mankind’s major dilemmas because of the networks they can form and leverage. As the management guru Peter Drucker said, “The leader of the past knew how to tell; the leader of the future knows how to ask.”

Jim Bolt*jbolt@executivedevelopment.com*www.executivedevelopment.com

Posted by Jim Bolt at 7:37 PM | Add Comment

January 14, 2008

Building Strong Networks: Part Two

This is the second of three parts of an interview with Mike Dulworth, author of a great new book called The Connect Effect: Building Strong Personal, Professional, and Virtual Networks. Mike is CEO of Executive Networks, Inc. In part one I mentioned that having a strong network is critical to personal and professional success for leaders and we covered three questions:
--What prompted Mike to write the book
--Why he thinks networking is so important today, and
--What he means by the “Connect Effect”
Here’s part two:
Jim: What do people who are really good at networking do that other people don’t?
Mike: First of all, they understand the power of a good network and work consciously to build their network. Second, they give first and ask for a favor second. Third, they are good at asking questions of a new contact that lead to a connection that can be built upon (like a common friend, we both lived in Kansas, we went to the same school, we’re both Democrats, etc.). Fourth, they stay in touch, at least once a year. Fifth, they create a Personal Board of Directors (of 6-10 people) that is their “go to” network for important advice and counsel.

Jim: How do you know if you have a good network or not, or even if you are any good at networking?
Mike: In the book I have a questionnaire for measuring your NQ. NQ stands for Networking Quotient. Just like a person’s IQ (or Intelligence Quotient), everyone has an NQ. The NQ questionnaire has two major sections: the first asks about the scope and strength of your network; the second asks about your networking activities. Understanding your current NQ is important to making changes or improvements that can raise your NQ score. The good news is that raising your NQ is totally within your control which is not the case with your IQ which is pretty much determined by your genes.

Jim: What advice do you have for leaders about how to use networks to improve their effectiveness?
Mike: First of all, I say that everyone networks everyday; they just may not think they do. Everyone talks daily to a family member, a work colleague or a friend and this is a form of networking. Additionally, most everyone meets someone new everyday. The trick is to find a way to build and maintain your network that is comfortable for you. This is where personality, style and preferences come into play. If you’re an introvert, you may not like large gatherings. So meet a contact for lunch or go online and build and communicate with your network. Networking is not simply the act of going to social or “networking” events to try to meet new people. I’d argue that networking needs to be thought of more holistically and approached with a deliberate process mindset (i.e., “Have I networked today?”). Second, I’d stress that most people’s networks are a lot better and stronger than they think. They’ve just not taken the time to map their network or to think about who the important contacts are within their network.

Jim Bolt*jbolt@executivedevelopment.com*www.executivedevelopment.com

Posted by Jim Bolt at 7:46 PM | Add Comment

January 6, 2008

Building Strong Networks: Part One

It’s crystal clear that having a strong network is critical to personal and professional success for leaders these days. I just interviewed Mike Dulworth, author of a great new book called The Connect Effect: Building Strong Personal, Professional, And Virtual Networks. Mike is CEO of Executive Networks, Inc. This turned out to be such an interesting topic that I’ve broken the interview into three blogs. Here’s part one:

Jim: What prompted you to write this book?
Mike: Good question. I’ve been running a professional networking business for the last four years. I’ve seen firsthand how these networks can help people on a personal and professional basis and lead to concrete organizational outcomes. I’ve also read some of the popular books on networking and I just think most of them are a bunch of hype. So, I guess, I thought I had something useful to say on the issue. I sometimes say that The Connect Effect is a networking book for normal people, not the ADD (attention deficit disorder) crowd. It just seems to me that many of the networking books in print today are based on extreme extrovert models and are not really practical formulas or approaches for 90% of people.

Jim: Why do you think networking is so important today?
Mike: We live in a VUCA world. VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. The societal, organizational and personal issues we face today are extremely complex. Change happens at an extremely rapid pace. In order to effectively address the myriad of challenges we face everyday, it is my belief that we need broad, deep and diverse networks. Just look at Clinton’s Global Initiative, the World Economic Forum or the Grameen Bank. At their heart, they’re networks. Obviously, the web has greatly increased our capacity to connect and network 24/7/365, which is profoundly changing our fundamental ideas about networks and how to leverage networks to accomplish our objectives.

Jim: You talk about the “Connect Effect”, what does that mean?
Mike: The Connect Effect is the positive outcome derived from having a strong, vibrant, diverse network. As more and better connections are made by an individual, it’s more likely The Connect Effect will occur. I talk in the book about entering “The Network Zone” which is much like what is described as “being in the zone” in sports. The Network Zone is achieved when your network is so broad and deep that almost anything can be accomplished more efficiently and effectively through your network. What also happens is that positive unintended things occur as a result of your network – like having someone call you up out of the blue with an amazing new job opportunity.

Jim Bolt*jbolt@executivedevelopment.com*www.executivedevelopment.com

Posted by Jim Bolt at 2:44 PM | Add Comment

December 17, 2007

The Learning Glass Ceiling – Part 2

In my last blog I said that in working with senior leaders in major organizations I’ve observed that once they get to be the CEO, or reach other C-suite level positions, many quit participating in learning experiences. I noted that there are two problems this causes: 1) the negative messages it sends to the rest of the organization, and 2) the inability of those top leaders to role-model and reinforce what is being taught. See the last blog, The Learning Glass Ceiling – Part 1, for a discussion of the first problem. Now for the second issue.

These senior leaders often support leadership development with their words and financial backing, encourage those who report to them to participate, kick-off or close their senior executive/leadership development programs, and sometimes “teach” in them – usually presenting the organization vision, strategy, marketplace challenges and priorities. They might even go so far as to be briefed in some detail by the head of HR, or Chief Learning Officer, or head of executive/leadership development, on the objectives and content of the programs. But if they haven’t actually attended personally as a “student”, several problems arise that are critical and often overlooked:
• Since they have not had the development experience themselves, they can’t possibly role model what is being taught to leaders below them
• Because they don’t have the same training/development they can’t encourage, support, and reinforce what is being taught with the leaders who report to them who have participated in the programs or development experiences
• If top management doesn’t role model or reinforce what is expected of others in the organization, it is much less likely that there will be an environment that supports people in applying what is learned. At best, this makes it extremely difficult for lessons learned in leadership development experiences to be applied and sustained over time. And at worst, it can make the time and expenditures on development a complete waste

So, what do you think? Do you think top level leaders understand the problems created by their lack of personal engagement in learning and development? If you agree that this is a problem, what do you think can be done about it?

Jim Bolt*jbolt@executivedevelopment.com*www.executivedevelopment.com

Posted by Jim Bolt at 5:27 PM | 2 Comments

December 8, 2007

The Learning Glass Ceiling (or, is your leader a Know it All?) – Part 1

Working as a consultant with senior leaders in major corporations for the last 25 years I’ve observed a disturbing pattern: once they get to the top (CEO and other C-suite level positions), many of them refuse to participate in learning experiences, even though they expect other leaders in their organizations to do so. What’s that about? And why is it a problem? There are two important issues: 1) the message it sends to the rest of the organization, and 2) the inability of the top leaders to role-model and reinforce what is being taught. I like to keep these blogs relatively short so I’ll cover these in two sessions.

First issue: what are messages that the rest of the organization receives when the very top leaders are seen an advocating learning for the leaders below them but do not participate themselves? They may be seen as sponsoring and funding internal executive education programs and other development events such as coaching, mentoring, etc. They might even “teach” in the company leadership programs. But……. they do not participate in any internal programs as “students”, and probably not in any external development either. Whether they intend to or not, these are some of the ways that their actions are likely interpreted by the organization:
• we already know it all
• we’re smarter than everyone else
• learning and development isn’t as important as the other things we have to do
• when you get to the top, you don’t need to continue to learn
• do as I say, not as I do
• learning and development is for everyone else, not for us
• ………………………….fill in the blank, I’m sure you can think of some others

Of course these leaders think they are too busy. But do you think they are aware of, or even consider, the message they are sending to their organization? Do they think about the unintended consequences of being “missing in action”?

Could there be something else going on? Is it possible they don’t want to admit that they have something to learn? Now that they have reached the top, aren’t they supposed to have all the answers? Would it perhaps be embarrassing to be in a session where you had to admit you didn’t know everything?

In my next blog I’ll talk about the other big problem, i.e., if the top doesn’t participate, how can they role-model what their leaders are learning and reinforce what’s being learned?

Jim Bolt*jbolt@executivedevelopment.com*www.executivedevelopment.com

Posted by Jim Bolt at 3:15 PM | Add Comment

November 25, 2007

Hurry Sickness

I'm sitting here on a Sunday working. I've been working most of the weekend except for a walk on the beach with my beloved dog Roxanne (she doesn't think it's anywhere near enough walking -- she's bored!).

I'm feeling guilty about working all weekend, but I do it all the time! I feel guilty if I don't because there is sooooooooo much to do, and I'd fall sooooooooo far behind if I didn't. I've been promising myself for years that I'd stop this.

There is a thing called Hurry Sickness; we literally make ourselves sick by hurrying all the time to get too many things done -- work and personal stuff. Having too much to do seems to be so much a part of our lives these days that we just take it for granted and accept it -- well, there's even a name for it!

I like Craig Wilson's column in USA Today. Once he wrote about simplifying his life. Seems like we all want that. If we could do so, maybe we wouldn't have Hurry Sickness and work all weekend! He mentioned that the founder of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning says we should ask ourselves two key questions:

1. If you had only 24 hours left, who did you not get to be?

2. What did you not get to do?

Supposedly these get at what is really meaningful: have you been devoting your life to making money, when important things such as your family, your community, your "spirit" have been ignored? Yikes, that hurts!!! There are a few leaders I know who might think about this too.

Anyway, I'm done with this blog, and I'm not working anymore today, so there!

Jim Bolt*jbolt@executivedevelopment.com*www.executivedevelopment.com

Posted by Jim Bolt at 2:06 PM | Add Comment

November 20, 2007

Military vs. MBA

At an employment fair in San Diego, Nextel, Amazon.com, Morgan Stanley, Johnson & Johnson and Clorox, to name a few or the 49 companies present, were very busy hiring former military service members. These companies were eagerly snatching up veterans; even in some cases offering hiring bonuses. What's up?

According to the head of leadership development at one company, "The No. 1 thing is their leadership ability. They learn fast. They're disciplined. They are a lot more serious than their civilian peers." A senior exec from another firm said, "We find that military people really understand managing multiple priorities, and overall customer satisfaction. They have a real go-get-it attitude. They are self-starters who won't leave until the job is done right."

Hmmmmm, I know a few companies who could use some of this. And, not only to address the benchstrengh challenges most of them are facing. What I mean is, do the typical MBAs you are hiring today (and paying a gazillion dollars for) have these traits????

OK, I admit it I'm biased. I went through Air Force Officer Training School and it was the best training I could have had. I think we should have mandatory two year military service for everyone -- there I said it, go ahead, send in the nasty rebuttals!
Executive Development: Past, Present & Future * jbolt@executivedevelopment.com * www.executivedevelopment.com

Posted by Jim Bolt at 5:22 PM | 3 Comments