Looking for a Bigger Piece of the Pie?

August 27th, 2009

I recently caught up with Greg Lippert, CEO of Mazzio’s Italian Eatery, the Tulsa-based restaurant company with 170 locations in 10 states.  From his days as a college soccer player to positions with heavyweights like Proctor and Gamble and Philip Morris, Greg came up through the ranks in typical Type A fashion eventually holding several executive positions in the fast casual dining sector before returning to Mazzio’s as CEO.

As we were kicking around the latest and greatest happenings in our worlds, I took the opportunity to ask Greg to share his advice for those  Type A’s who are looking to move into executive leadership.

Here’s Greg’s advice on how to get a bigger piece of the pie.

1.  You must know how to manage your time and your mind.

“As CEO, the toughest choice is knowing how to best manage your time and your mind.  As you get higher and higher on the ladder, you give up more and more of your time and your mind to issues that you may not have previously considered.  You must be constantly thinking about the results of others… the morale of employees, how the company is advancing, whether or not the business plan is accomplishing the company’s goals.  It’s no longer about your own results.  You have less and less brain space to focus on yourself or your family.   If you can’t manage your time and your mind, you’re not going to be successful.”

2.  Understand the financial impact of your decisions across the board.

“You are only as good as your bottom line.  More and more often pay is being tied to performance.  And it’s not just your performance but the entire company’s performance.  The company’s financial responsibility is shared responsibility.”

3. Explore your career and lifestyle options early in your career.

“Use your education years and the time in your 20’s to explore opportunities in lifestyle and career that you believe will help you feel fulfilled today and into the future.  Don’t make a commitment too early.  Find a career or industry that you will still enjoy years later.  And develop a secondary interest, such as a hobby or volunteer work, so you don’t become too job focused.”

4. Learn project management skills.

“The biggest gap we have between our experienced baby boomer leadership team and the next generation is strong project management skills.  No one is being taught project management.   Someone who has great project management skills will be invaluable to growing companies.”

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Master the Rules Before You Break’em

August 25th, 2009

Admit it.  Rules can feel like a ball and chain around your neck.

In the minds of many turbocharged Type A’s, RULES get in the way of RESULTS.  The more successful Type A’s become, the more likely they are to rebel against rules in a short-sighted manner and send their companies or their careers down the stinker.

Pay attention if you’ve got any of these red flags waving in your head.

“If they would just get out of my way, then I could really get the big things done.”

“These damn rules are ridiculous!  They just slow me down and put up silly barriers to getting things done.”

“I’m a bigger producer than anyone else, so I shouldn’t have to play by the rules.”

“Rules are for losers.”

“I’m smarter (faster, more talented, more successful, etc…) than the people who made the rules, so why should I follow them?!”

Here’s the dark side to this Type A trap.  If you break the rules before you master them, you look disrespectful, rude, insubordinate, rash, arrogant… fill in the blank with a whole host of other unpleasant, stinky descriptors.

However, here’s what’s cool about rules.  If you master the rules and then break’em (in a constructive manner, of course), you look courageous, visionary and innovative.

What kind of Rule Wrangler are you?

As you ponder your answer, turn up your speakers and join me in singing The Type A Anthem…

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Buried Alive

August 18th, 2009

When we keep doing the same things over and over again  – or thinking the same things over and over again – we dig ourselves into a Type A rut.  What’s really tragic is that we rarely notice the walls closing in on us.  We are so busy, so stressed and so driven to accomplish the big goals that we can’t see what we are doing to ourselves.  That’s how Type A superstars get buried alive.

As the novelist Ellen Glasgow observed, “The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions.”

What are you digging for yourself?

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Rude Awakening

August 14th, 2009

Newsflash!  Research proves being rude at work hurts the bottom line!

Oh, please.  Did we really need a research project to tell us that?  Apparently so.

As reported in Human Resource Executive Online, researchers studying the effects of rude behavior found that both the targets of the rude behavior and the second-hand victims were negatively impacted by just one incident of rudeness.  Problem solving, creativity and learning all decreased after rude behavior occurred.

According to Donna Flagg, founder of The Krysalis Group in New York City, “Oftentimes…the rudest employees also just happen to be the highest producers and line management does not want to let them go.

Here’s the kicker:  Rude + High Producer = Type A on the path to a train wreck.  It’s just a matter of time before things implode.

Pulling rude Type A top performers back on track is not for the timid.  It requires a special touch.  Admonishing, threatening or hog tying a Type A with more rules is only throwing gasoline on a smoldering fire.   If you want to avoid the train wreck, you must get right to the root of the rudeness.

I’m going to tell you a secret.  With the exception of a few nut cases and some celebrity Type A’s who have built billionaire brands on hurling insults, Type A rudeness tends to grow from one of three roots:  frustration, fear or simply being unaware of how they are coming across.

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Digging Deep for Black Gold

August 11th, 2009

A big congratulations to Mark Bronston, CEO of Legends Exploration LP located in Houston, TX.  Mark, along with a team of fellow scientists, received the prestigious 2009 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s Thayer Lindsley Award for the discovery of the Donlin Creek gold deposit, considered to be one of the largest umined pure gold deposits in the world.

During a recent conversation with Mark, I asked this award-winning geophysicist what are the toughest decisions he has to make as CEO.  Mark replied, “The toughest decisions are the people-related issues ranging from dealing with regulatory agencies to negotiating with landowners to keeping everyone motivated, enthusiastic and collegial.  It never goes away.”

In Mark’s opinion, the oil and gas exploration business attracts a certain kind of people – “Type A people on steriods” – who, at the end of the day, can handle a big failure with nothing to show for their efforts but a dry hole.

Mark offered some advice for high potential Type A’s who have their eyes on the top job.

1.  Be absolutely sure you love what you are doing.  Don’t let money be your driver.

2. Early in your career seek out the programs and learning opportunities that may not be the most glamorous but will help you create a strong foundation that will set you apart from your peers.  Don’t shy away from the blocking and tackling positions.

3.  Save yourself some heartache.  When you get angry or affronted, hold your breath and count to ten.  Consider that email you want to send before you send it.  Act professionally regardless of how you feel.

Great advice from a modern day prospector.

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Type A Trap: Big Expectations

August 6th, 2009

Having a tough time being disciplined and following through with your commitments to yourself?

Big expectations may be to blame for your blase.

Turbocharged Type A’s love to get dramatic results quickly.  If you’re brushing your teeth in hopes of meeting Prince Charming, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.  Sooner or later, you’re going to get disenchanted and toss the toothbrush out the door.

For Type As it’s tough to stay disciplined and motivated when the pay-off seems too far off, too small or too boring.  The solution?  Turn down the short-term expectations and keep your eyes on the longer term, bigger pay-off.

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Type A’s You Can’t Trust

August 4th, 2009

“I just can’t trust her (or him).”

One of the most common problems I help clients solve is how to work with The Type A You Can’t Trust.  The culprit might be the conniving chairwoman,  the slick salesperson or the backstabbing boss.  Usually, these “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” Type A’s are found in positions of influence and power.  They show their ‘good’ face in public and bring out the snarling monster in private.

Here’s the secret to dealing with The Type A You Can’t Trust.

Their game is using inconsistent, destructive behavior to keep you off balance.  Don’t get sucked into their game.  Expect them to be CONSISTENTLY inconsistent.   Plan for their shenanigans.  When you react in a way they don’t expect, THEY will be thrown off balance.  The power shifts to you.

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Cookin’ Goose and Eating Crow

August 3rd, 2009

This weekend gave us two more great examples of how default thinking can sabotage the success of Type A performers.

After weeks of Type A slicing and dicing, Melissa d’Arabian, stay-at-home mom, kept her focus and chopped nine culinary-schooled competitors to become The Next Food Network Star.  The runner-up, Jeffrey Saad, had this to say about Melissa.  “I thought she would be gone the first episode.”   The lesson here:  Default thinking can cook your goose.

Now to Rome where Michael Phelps beat Milorad Cavic in the 100m butterfly… again.  Cavic took his eye off the race to indulge in a little Type A trash talking about Phelps inferior Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit.  Phelps stepped over Cavic’s snide remarks and crossed the finish line in world record time.  Cavic’s post-race comment about Phelps?  “He’s the man.”  Guess there isn’t much to say when your mouth is full of crow.

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Exploiting The Theory of Complaints

May 8th, 2009

What are you complaining about?

Maybe it was your rant yesterday during the Board meeting or the mumbling and muttering you did on the way into work this morning…. but I KNOW you are complaining about something… even if it’s only in the privacy of your mind.

What is it?

Not enough time to get everything done?   Your wife’s nagging?  Unrealistic shareholder expectations?  Your teenage daughter’s weird friends?  The nose dive your stock portfolio took over the past several months?  The irritating co-worker that takes credit for your ideas?

What are you complaining about?

Complaining is common.  You probably think you know all about complaining.

But did you know that complaining is the missing link between success and satisfaction?  Success doesn’t buy satisfaction.  It’s one thing to be successful and another thing entirely to be SATISFIED.

Yep, that’s right.  Your complaints hold the secret to turning success into satisfaction.  The MBA in me likes to call it Exploiting the Theory of Complaints.

To understand my Theory of Complaints, let’s take a quick look at well known biz school favorite, The Theory of Constraints.

The Theory of Constraints suggests that what stands between you and achieving your goals are the bottlenecks – or constraints – in your process.   Simply put, by identifying these bottlenecks and permanently removing them, you achieve greater success more quickly.  If you want to learn more about it, google business guru Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt.  There are oodles of info on this management philosophy.

Back to Cannon’s Theory of Complaints…

My Theory of Complaints says that what stands between success and satisfaction are complaints.  Stands to reason, doesn’t it?  Regardless of your success, it’s pretty darn near impossible to be truly satisfied if you are complaining.

Consider this.  Complaining is a signal that something is not right.  A complaint arises because some need is not being met.  You’ve got an itch that is not being scratched.

No matter how successful you are, you are not going to be truly satisfied if you, your life  or your business are being held hostage by an unmet need(s).

The unmet need creates tension in your experience which, in turn, leads you to vent, kvetch or bellyache to relieve the tension.  Unfortunately, the relief is temporary at best unless you identify the underlying unmet need and take action to fill it permanently.  Think about it like having a cavity in your tooth.  Until you fill it permanently, the little monster is going to keep bothering you and getting bigger… even if the rest of the world only sees your sparkling pearly whites.

And, just like pesky cavities, unmet needs can be hard to see unless you have x-ray vision, one of those odd little dental mirrors or the keen vision of someone else.  The quickest way to find the unmet need and create a strategy to fix it, is to enlist the help of a trusted advisor, mentor or coach.

Bottom line:  Remove your constraints to be successful and resolve your complaints to be satisfied.

There’s no sweeter spot than being successful AND being truly satisfied.

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What’s really capturing your attention?

May 7th, 2009

Did you see the article in the New York Times,  Ear Plugs to Lasers:  The Science of Concentration?  In the book, Rapt, author Winifred Gallagher, reminds us of two well known concepts:

  1. What we pay attention to determines what kind of experience we create.
  2. Our brains work best when we concentrate and focus on one thing at time… multi-tasking is not good for us.

Gallagher goes on to make the point that we have the choice to focus our attention on the negative things or the positive things.  Not surprisingly, she points out that shifting your attention to and focusing on the positive things in life are the secrets to creating a more satisfying life.

I’m not going to disagree with that, but I do think it’s a black or white approach… especially for high level leaders who get paid to solve problems and achieve results in a technicolor world.

Here’s two more things to think about.

First, events are rarely all positive or all negative.  They are usually a bitter sweet mixture of both.  Wisdom comes from being able to see and appreciate both the good and the bad.  Remember the old saw… Learning from your mistakes?

Secondly, your unconscious mindsets have an enormous impact on how you see the world and what captures your attention.  Shifting your conscious attention without first uncovering your underlying unconscious mindsets is a little like whacking off dandelion leaves.  It’s just a matter of time before your unconscious mindset sends up another flower of frustration.  Just look at Kristie Alley’s failed weight loss…

Here’s my advice:

1.  Focus your attention on the whole experience.   Step outside of your judgment of good or bad.  Look at things from both sides at once.  Find the wisdom in the experience.  The great thing about wisdom is that you can take it with you whereever you go.

2. Cultivate your consciousness.  Dig out your unconscious mindsets so you get rid of the weeds once and for all.  That leaves plenty of room and nutrients for creativity.  And with creativity comes inspired problem solving and new perspectives.

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