Motivation without compassion is destructive. Motivation with compassion can change the world.

Ultimately we are all responsible for our own destiny. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t allowed to give or accept help. We are allowed to cooperate and try to make things easier for each other. I can take complete responsibility for my life and still accept a helping hand from time to time.

Life isn’t about every man for himself and to hell with everyone else. If you and I want to share our good fortune by using tax money to help give unfortunate children a better start in life we can vote for the right politicians and get it done. If we want to pool our resources to make sure that if any of us fall on hard times our children won’t go hungry we can. These common decisions are not abdicating responsibility, they are in fact taking responsibility.

From the mouths of babes...

My seven year old daughter asked me at the dinner table tonight, "Is the United States a rich country?" I said "yes it is". She said "aren't there lots of people the the USA who are poor?" I said "yes there are". She said "Why are there many poor people in the USA if it is so rich?" I didn't know what to say.

I wrote this text on my Facebook page and one of my American friends who is a died in the wool republican answered “Tell her not everyone in the USA works smart or hard, and some are just unfortunate. . . just like in every other country.” My friend reply is unfortunately all too typical of the kind of poorly thought through and heartless rhetoric prevalent in the USA today. These arguments although effective miss the point. We Americans think we are the brightest, the strongest and the best at everything and find it extremely difficult to learn from other nations.

But not every other wealthy country has the kind of poverty we see in our country, the USA. Some countries address the issue of poverty differently. My American friend gave three explanations for poverty. People are either lazy, dumb or unfortunate (and I assume he would allow for some combinations of these three). These explanations, although common, at best only describe why some succeed better than others. They do not explain why a nation chooses to let some of its people live a dream life while others live in dire poverty. In a functioning democracy it comes down to the choices we as voters make. If we want to provide food, housing, equality in education and quality healthcare to fellow citizens who are less fortunate, we can. Many other western capitalist democratic countries have succeeded. We Americans can succeed as well! It is not about lowering the standard of the wealthy, it is about raising the standard of those who are worse off in society.

Penny wise and dollar foolish...

SAS has taken giant steps in cutting costs. They have replaced real people with "do-it-yourself" machines. You would think that they could at least have engough machines. Everytime I have flown with SAS the last year I have had to stand in long lines at the automatic machines. Then I have to stand in a long line again to "drop" my bagage.

For my Swedish speaking friends you can now have a look at lots of video clips from one of my lectures which I have called "The Ten Commandments for Leaders". You can either what an entire lecture of 50 minutes, a 9 minute trailer or see each commandment seperately as a 1-2 minute mini-clip. I hope you enjoy this. My friends at Astrakan Strategisk Utbildning AB have but it all together very nicely so you can either go to their page and have a look or click on the links below.

Budord nummer 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xwpO6WyR68

Budord nummer 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z08vkZ5_foc

Budord nummer 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkdOMTGpmGM

Budord nummer 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZvJuhl_oh8

Budord nummer 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZHZ8Q6PzsE

Budord nummer 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E6UApACUWA

Budord nummer 7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoKk5CQtfIc

Budord nummer 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcYTbDFWUWA

Budord nummer 9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AC1NBEIl40

Budord nummer 10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du89FIVov5U

9 minuters trailer från föreläsningen ”Tio Budord för Ledare” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaCPjhr0Zw8

50 minuters film av hela föreläsningen finns på http://www.tvhuset.se/shows/odell/

For those who are curious and english speaking I hope to have something similar out in English soon.

Burning Korans and other craziness...

The sad thing about a wacko pastor in a tiny church in Florida burning Korans is that his views are shared by many other so called Christians. I find it hard to believe that anyone that really bought-in to the fundamental message of Christianity could carry so much hatred inside them (love your neighbor, turn the other cheek, blessed are the peace makers, forgiveness etc etc). I spent 4 years in college studying religion and theology and I can't remember anywhere in the New Testament where it says blessed are the ass-kickers or god loves intolerance, or revenge is sweet.

If Jesus really did come back from the dead and is sitting there in heaven with god right now I bet this kind of foolishness really pisses him off. If he didn’t come back from the dead I bet he is rolling over in his grave now.

Democracy is a terrible system. The only thing worse than people trying to lead themselves is letting somebody else do it!

I am sitting in the shade under one of the apple trees in my garden reading one of Sweden’s daily newspapers. The world championship in football is now over so the papers can’t seem to find much to write about, except of course the upcoming parliamentary elections this fall. Fortunately for the general public there has popped up a juicy sex scandal with one of the ministers who has been forced to jump ship right before the election. Otherwise I think this election and its total lack of issues would be the biggest sleeping pill of the decade.

The TV debate between the leaders of the two main parties was comical. Debate in this case is probably not the right expression since they agree on all the key issues. The height of their “debate” was about who came up with an idea first before the other party stole it. It was sad and funny seeing them try to say the same thing in different ways so that the viewers would think that they actually had different points of view and that the other party would lead the country to a catastrophe. When all was said and done not even the expert commentators could explain how the parties differed significantly on the issues. ( I have always been amazed that “expert commentators” can spend an hour telling you what a politician just said in 30 minutes.)

In the end the Swedish people will have to go to the polls and decide who will lead the country for the next mandate period based on who they think can best execute the plans that all the parties agree upon not who has the best ideas. Maybe that isn’t so bad but I can’t help worrying that with everyone in such agreement we might be missing something. Leading a country in times like these requires diversity of thought and real debate. Many of the challenges facing not only Sweden but the world are so complicated that they should tax the facilities of our brightest and best.

Where is the opposition when politicians agree on all the important issues? Who is representing alternative thoughts and ideas? What professional politician wants to represent marginalized ideas and issues that go against the mainstream?

Politicians want power and power comes from winning elections. From the very beginning of the great experiment known as democracy, politicians have understood that they must be closely aligned with the sentiments of the majority of the people if they want to stay in power. Hordes of PR agencies and research organizations using modern methods for measuring public opinion keep politicians and political parties on track. Politicians are continuously updated on what can be said and done that will appeal to as many as possible? This inevitably leads to a harmonization of the parties towards the center of the mainstream of public thought. Any party that ventures too far from the mainstream will be punished at the polls! In the end, democracy is a terrible system. The only thing worse than people trying to lead themselves is letting somebody else do it!

The Challenge of Or!

I am riding on the train on the way home from a very interesting speaking engagement at a management conference for a 50 year old company with patented industrial solutions. I can’t help but think about the similarities this company has with so many others.

The company is a powerful global player in their industry. Like many successful companies their success has been built on solid technological foundation based on high quality and innovation.

Today they face new challenges which require them to re-think virtually every aspect of their business. Continued focus on developing better products is an important success factor but it must be based on deeper analysis of “real” customer needs. The winners in industries like this will join strong products with innovative new approaches to sales and distribution. Great products once separated leaders from losers.

Today, great products only open the door to the playing field. Winners combine great products or services with innovative new approaches to sales, service, distribution and marketing. Turning products into services and services into products is something of a mantra across countless industries. As James C. Collins, Jerry I. Porras put in in there book Built to Last, great companies must take on the challenge of the “or”. Should we focus on margin or volume? The winners do both! Should we focus on developing great products or be great at sales and marketing? The winners know that success will require both!

The company I met has understood that their outstanding products are a key element of a successful mix but that they must be stronger on all the other elements as well.

Many companies are facing numerous questions like:

How do we redefine sales processes to better support our customers’ buying processes our products are used in such a broad range of industries?

What steps need to be taken to go from selling products to solutions?

How do we develop new and flexible business models that maximize cash flow throughout the value chain?

How can we best use IT systems and telecom services to support our own and our customers’ processes?

Do we need to redefine the scope of our business to consolidate our past success and build a stronger platform for future growth?

Efficiency and productivity in business has always been about getting the most bang for the buck from the resources we pay for directly. The environmental crisis has made us aware that we also have to include resources we don’t pay for directly in our efficiency and productivity models.

Leaders are not born they are developed!

Leadership is not something one is born with. Leadership is a skill set that more than anything is learned. Some very few of us may have been born with a natural talent that makes it easier for us to develop as leaders. Just like some very few are born with good musical talent. These few may be able to intuitively walk into a room and "take charge". Others may sit down at a piano and the music simply flows from their fingers. The problem with these natural born talents is that there just aren't enough of them to go around and many of them never actually bloom into leaders (or musicians).

If you want to man your management with good leaders or fill your orchestra with good musicians you will have to go for the hard working people who have devoted a great deal of time and effort to learning their trade. The majority of us "normally" gifted people have to work hard to develop our leadership skills. If we want to excel we need to study with others, practice and have a high tolerance for failure.

Most of us end up in leadership positions in our companies with no real preparation at all. After spending years at school preparing for a professional discipline, years more practicing that discipline and then one day we become leaders. We go from salesman to sales manager, from engineer to department head, and so on with little or no training. If the average managers formal training for their professional discipline can be measured in years their leadership training can be measured in days or weeks. And yet most managers feel that their leadership role is more demanding than their professional discipline.

Kelly Odell - Ur föreläsning: Tio Budord för en Ledare

The bucket is running dry...

A few weeks ago the weather was bad so I went to the gym and was running on the treadmill. In order to pass the time I was watching a debate program on a Swedish television station. The program dealt with two issues. One was a debate about the fact that apparently Swedes eat more candy than any other people in the world. According to the program a whopping 17 kgs per person are consumed annually by Swedes. This part of the program didn't amount to much since it is hard for anyone to argue that eating that much candy is good for you.

The other debate was much more interesting. It was about how long oil is going to last. In this debate were people who argued that the oil supply would peak within 3 to 5 years and others representing the oil industry that said oil wouldn't peak until 40 years. What struck me in the debate is the realization that sometime between now and 40 years will be the peak! 40 years isn't a long time away! With a wee bit of luck I may still be kicking then and my children will be in the middle of their lives.

We have to crack this nut now because tomorrow we may have to work in the dark...

Teaching vs. Learning

No one can really teach another person anything, they can only inspire them to learn.

Harmony is the balance of tension not the absence of tension.

Have you noticed how more and more often job ads specify personality traits together with competencies required for the job. In fact it wouldn't be to harsh to say that it looks like many companies are trying to recruit the very same person or at least people with very similar personality traits. The truth is that many highly competent people just don't fit the perky, gung-ho image we often look for when recruiting new employees. This stereotyping can limit creativity and lower performance in your organization. A competent sour-puss or a difficult introvert might be just what the doctor ordered to lift us to a higher level of performance. When we say “he fits in”, “he’s a team player” or “we speak the same language” what we are really saying is we get along and there is no real tension. If you ever find yourself thinking like this when recruiting let it be a warning for you. The nice guy who fits in, the guy you would love to play a round of golf with is likely to be the wrong guy for the job.

Most of us have seen the research on how to create high performing teams and if we take a look at this research again we will be reminded that while we may not want to be throwing furniture at each other in management meetings we do want a high level of diversity and even tension. Harmony is the balance of tension not the absence of it.

Getting to the heart of change!

I recently made a joint presentation with Elisabeth Kamél at the annual conference for The Swedish Project Management Association (Svenskt Projektforum). Elisabeth is one of Sweden’s leading educators for project leaders and I work with Change Management and Leadership. Together we were going to give insight into how to successfully manage change management projects. During the our preparation we decided to make an attempt at offering a tool to help project leaders and change agents with what we have seen to be one of the most common reasons most change initiatives fail.

In our experience most change initiatives fail because organizations and their leaders fail to understand and manage the “human” element of change. Change in an organization means change in behavior and yet most organizations run change with standard project management methodology. Although there has been a great deal written about the human or soft side of change most project management methods offer little or no help in understanding and addressing the real human issues of change that will in the end determine the outcome of change initiatives.

We decided to present the meeting with a practical tool that would compliment a broad range of project management methodologies. The result was the following template which we hope will help to guide insight, actions and communication.

Following the matrix there are some further explanations to guide your thinking.

Change Matrix (Getting to the heart of change!)

by Elisabeth Kamél and Kelly Odell

Stake-holders	Effect direct/ Indirect/ Pos/Neg	New demands/ expectations	New knowledge/ competence	Resources for securing new knowledge		Need for inspiration/motivation		Communication needs	Investment in time, money, consultants, training, etc
Employeee in unit X
Employee in unit Y
Mgmt Team
Business unit leaders
Dept managers
Team-leaders
Customer
Employees

1. Stakeholders: Identify who will be impacted during and after the process (direct/indirect/later?) For example employees, customers, suppliers, etc

-Who will be impacted by this change?

-How will this change affect these individuals/groups?

-What can be done to minimize the negative effects of the change for the different stakeholders?

-How will the desired result of the change be affected if we do not get support from individuals/groups?

2. Make an honest assessment of how the change will affect the various stakeholders.

3. Describe what new demands and expectations on the stakeholders during and after the change.

4. Define which new knowledge or competences are necessary so that stakeholders can execute the new behaviors required by the change.

5. Describe what resources are available to help affected stakeholders in gaining necessary new knowledge and competence.

6. Redogör för hur de berörda kan inspireras och motiveras att bidra för att förverkliga förändringen.

7. Create a communication plan. Describe how the communication with the stakeholders will be executed. Give honest information about the change is necessary, how it will be implemented and what is expected of them as stakeholders. Remember the power of a Vision! How will the world be a better place when we have completed this change!

-Frequency – How often should we communicate? The general rule is that you cannot communicate too often! Even when you don’t have anything new to say you can gather the stakeholders and say that!

-Media – Which communication channels are available to you and which will we use when?

-Focus on target groups – Communication should be adapted to each group of stakeholders or even sub-groups of stakeholders since they can be impacted differently and will perceive the change differently.

8. Create a budget

Define what resources are necessary. (Time, Money, Consultants, Training, etc)

Include this budget in the decision material before you execute the change. If you can’t afford to the soft side of change you can’t afford the hard side either!

Does god choose sides when his children fight?

Truth is often not black or white, but shades of gray. Not because there aren't real truths but because life, politics, love and business can be very complicated. It is so easy, and so dangerous, to decide what to do on an issue or a problem and then look for facts to substantiate our points of view. This behavior seems to come naturally to us and might very well have been an asset when we were cavemen. If you heard a strange noise you might have been safer to assume that it is a hungry tiger than to open-mindedly collect and analyze the facts. Unfortunately, these primitive behaviors make it harder for us to live in a complex society.

Should we have gone to Afghanistan? Hard question.

Should we leave Afghanistan now that we are there? Another hard question.

Should we have gone into Iraq? Not as hard a question but still difficult?

Should we pull out now that we are there regardless if the reason we went was justifiable or not? Very hard question!

Many of us decide who we will listen to, (our political party, our religion or a business gurus) based on a combination of intellectual and emotional affinity as well as some variation of “peer pressure”. Then it is and easy step to assume that what my party and its leaders do is more “right” than what the others do. We then subconsciously look for confirmation for our beliefs.

-SAP is a great system but does anyone really think that all the companies that have installed SAP really needed SAP? Or is it the a function of “Social Proof” as Cialdini described it. Everyone else is getting SAP maybe we should too!

-Was everything Bush did wrong and everything Obama does is right, or vice versa depending on your political preference?

-Are Christians always right and Muslims always wrong or vice versa depending on your religious preference?

-Does god choose sides when his children fight?

Once again I long for the death of ideologies. Ideologies dictate for us not only how we should think but what we should think. Values are good to have but often get confused with ideological dictates and doctrines. When we find ourselves feeling right and wondering why so many other people could be so wrong it could be a warning that we have fallen prey to or ideologies. In order to really understand your own position on an issue whether it be political, religous or business we must strive to truly understand different and even opposing points of view. It is first when we understand why someone else thinks and acts so completely differently that we can begin to understand ourselves.

The Gospel of Change Management

Getting to the Heart of Change

Early in life I spent four years at college studying theology and religion because I thought I wanted to enter the ministry. I changed my mind and didn't attend seminary and have never worked in the ministry. When I moved to Sweden I did an MBA at the Stockholm School of Economics. I have now spent more than 25 years in various management positions and the last 12 years as a public speaker, workshop leader and teacher in the subjects of leadership and change management. Since some of my speaking agents have played up the "preacher" angle when selling me I thought it would be fun to play with some of the "religious" lingo to package my message. The following are not really meant to be comprehensive and may not be quite clear without all the stories and examples I usually give to explain them. But if you find any value in them feel free!

The Golden Rule of Organizational Change:

If you feel the need to make major changes in your organization, don’t do it!

Ten Commandments of Change

If you feel compelled to make major changes in your organization despite the Golden Rule, then make sure to follow the Ten Commandments of Organizational Change.

1. Remember that change is inevitable. In any given situation we have only three alternatives:

i. Accept the situation

ii. Change the situation

iii. Change situations

2. Be open-minded! Change is in itself neither good nor bad! Some changes affect us positively, some negatively and some not at all.

3. Remember, that there are primarily three types of change: Influence what you can and adapt to the rest!

-Those changes we initiate ourselves

-Those changes we did not initiate but over which we have great influence

-Those changes we did not initiate and over which we have little or no control

4. Focus on the human side of change!

Change requires “real” new behavior not just new actions. “It is easier not to smoke a cigarette than it is not to want to smoke a cigarette.”

5. Control your destiny!

Although we cannot always directly influence change we can influence on how the change affects our lives through our attitudes and actions.

6. Never initiate change simply for the sake of change!

Change should only be initiated when absolutely necessary with a real desire to make things better!

7. Be inquisitive! The three fundamental questions driving change:

Where am I now? It is ok to be happy where you are!

Where do I want to be? You don’t necessarily have to change anything!

How do I get there? Go back and re-think the first two points before developing your plan of action!

8. Base you decisions on facts. Intuition is better than no information at all but facts are always better.

9. Be courageous! Don’t worry if you don’t succeed the first time. Change is difficult but it is never too late to try again!

10. Be persistent! Those who succeed are not those who never fail, they are the ones who never give up!

The Paradox of Change

The outcome of change is difficult to foresee. Sometimes those changes that appear to be most negative in the short-term bring the most long-term benefit and those changes that seem most desirable in the short-term are not necessarily best for us in the long-term.

The Ten Commandements of Cross Group Collaboration

Today I held a workshop with a group from Microsoft Sweden on the topic Cross Group Collaboration. It was a very good group of people and I was impressed with their involvement and inight into issues of cross group collaboration as well as diversity. In preparation for this workshop I created Ten Commandments for Cross Group Collaboration that might be of interest to others. Some of these may need some explaination and I will try to get around to developing them more later.

The Ten Commandments of Cross Group Collaboration

1. Remember that rules are made to help us. When they don’t help us we are allowed to break them.

2. Break down the communication hierarchy.

3. Remember that good ideas can come from anywhere, and often do!

4. Show respect but don’t avoid conflict.

5. Adapt your processes to your customers needs, not the other way around.

6. Adapt you decisions to each new situation

7. Avoid compromise

8. Celebrate Failure

9. Be resillient

10. Keep an open mind!

Substance vs. Structure

Someone asked me an interesting question. "How do our cognitive abilities get any structure without adhering to some sort of ideology?" My answer: Structure and substance are too different things. A book can give you a structure, we read from left to right, from top to bottom etc. What I am concerned with is what we write on the pages not how we read. The common structure of a book can hold the ideologies Marx, Christianity, Islam or Communism and Capitalism. Anyone can write anything on a page, the reader must read with discernment.

Beware of Ideologies!

Ideologies scare me. Good people can kill or be killed for ideologies. Ideologies put power in the hands of the few to steer the minds of the many. Life can be complicated and confusing at times and ideologies make things easier. Too easy!

It is better to struggle with life’s choices and fail occasionally than to swallow easy answers and comfortable truths served up by political parties, religions or Dr. Phil. We have to learn to adapt our decisions and actions to each new situation. If you find yourself trusting rules of thumb on important issues think again! If people around you state opinions as if they were universal truths be wary.

Experiments

When the democrats try to create a healthcare system that provides quality even for the poor it is deemed (at best) as a liberal experiment by republicans. I guess an example of a conservative experiment would be when our previous president took us to war to prevent the use of nuclear weapons by a nation that had no nuclear weapons. Risk is implicit when experimenting. I think I would rather stick with liberal experimentation that conservative.