by Charles Plant | Jul 20, 2012 | Leadership Development
In all the debate about the value of a BA, there is one factor that keeps being missed. BAs make better people managers that those from engineering, accounting, finance, computer science and other left-brained occupations. A BA is a better path to leadership than a BSc.
A BA is still worth more than a high school diploma
If you listen to the pundits, they’ll say that what you learn in getting a BA doesn’t relate to the needs of the job market and that you will end up working at Walmart (not to diss Walmart as I’m sure it is a fine place to work.) The stats don’t tell that story however. According to Jeffrey Simpson in an article in today’s Globe and Mail, 94 percent of graduates of fine and applied arts had jobs two years after graduation. The rates for engineers were 95 percent and for health grads, 94%. Yes there is a difference but it isn’t great. As to money, having a BA was worth $17,000 a year more than just having a high school diploma.
Humanities grads understand people better than technology grads
So the stats say there is still a benefit to having a BA but what is being missed is the value to the grads career down the road and my claim that BA grads make better managers than left brained grads. If you’ve got a BA, you’ve taken literature, sociology, philosophy, psychology, sociology and all sorts of Humanities related cources. See that word? Humanities. Unless you didn’t notice, it contains the word Human. The Humanities are all about studying the human condition, what it means to be a human. The trials, tribulations, emotions etc of the human experience.
Leadership skills are enhanced when you really understand what makes people tick and that comes from studying the humanities
Why does this relate to managing? Well to be a good manager, you need to get work done through other people. Doing that means you have to have a good understanding of how people thinks, what moves them. You need to know how to motivate them, change their behaviour, communicate with them. These are not easy things to learn and they are rarely taught to left brained professionals. Thus the chances are that a humanities grad will make a better manager than a left brained professional who has never had to figure out how to communicate, motivate, inspire and lead.
Think about your past managers. Who was a better leader, the Humanities grad or the left brained grad?
by Charles Plant | Jul 18, 2012 | Management, Research
Did you know that we’re working more but getting less done? The average work week has increased from 35 hours in 1970 to 46 hours in 2012 and three out of four Americans feel stressed at work and one out of four say that work is the most stressful part of their lives. We’re working longer hours but are we more productive?
What is the effect of these changes? Check out this post with a great infographic that Keri Damen sent me.
I’m not sure where this idea that you’re more productive working longer hours comes from. I suspect it comes from the world of lawyers, accountants, and engineers who bill their time by the hour. In their case, working longer hours results in getting paid more. For the rest of us, that isn’t the case.
If you’re a manager, your job is to get things done through other people.
If you’re doing a good job delegating responsibility and authority, there is no reason to work long hours. In fact if you are working too long you probably aren’t doing your job properly.
Working long hours means that either you are doing things yourself which is a no-no as a manager or you haven’t delegated enough authority to the people working for you. In either case, you’re not being an effective leader.
Don’t forget. Your job as a leader is to set the vision, communicate and motivate. Your job doesn’t actually entail doing any work yourself. So why are you working such long hours?
by Charles Plant | Jul 17, 2012 | Leaders, Leadership Development
Time has passed since the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico but it can teach us a lot about how to take responsibility in a crisis. BP’s CEO, Tony Hayward, ended up losing his job as a result of the disaster primarily because he failed to take responsibility for BP’s role in the disaster.
When held to account by Congress, Hayward repeatedly told members of Congress that it would be “premature” to prejudge the outcome of investigations into the explosion. He refused to be drawn into discussions as to the causes of the disaster and this continued stonewalling led to growing frustration on the part of Congress. He also reiterated his claim that he wasn’t personally involved in decisions relating to construction of the well.
In refusing to accept blame, Hayward failed to take responsibility.I’m sure he took responsibility for their prior results but failed in this one crucial aspect of leadership.
There may be some hope for RIM yet because its leader, Thorsten Heins, is taking responsibility for past errors. By taking responsibility for the past, he can then move the agenda towards the future and focus on Blackberry 10. He may have then the makings of a good leader and RIM may indeed pull itself out of its troubles as a result of effective leadership.
by Charles Plant | Jul 16, 2012 | Exercises, Leadership Development
I am told that when I was young, I woke up one morning having wet my bed the night before and ran to my parents and claimed that “Somebody wet my bed.” My son carried on this tradition in a new way. After having done something bad to his older sister, we asked him to apologize. After much frooing and froing his response was “Sorry, Gaga.” The Gaga was his attempt to deflect true responsibility. You might think from these vignettes that I come from a family of shirkers but I think we’ve all been in that boat at some point in time.
Responsibility is a funny thing. We crave it when things are going well, try to deny it when things don’t quite go the way we want, and wait for it to be given to us at work. Responsibility is one of those key leadership skills that separate successful leaders from unsuccessful ones. Taking responsibility early in your career creates advancement opportunities. Trying to deny it when things go bad gets you fired.
Responsibility is Taken. It is never Given
What many people at work don’t understand about responsibility is that it is taken, not given. No one gives you responsibility for getting something done. They might present you with an opportunity to take it but it is up to you to take that responsibility on. They might say that you have been given responsibility but in actual fact, it is up to you whether you take it or not.
Try this at work:
At work, it’s often the little things that go unnoticed and yet it’s the little things that can give customers a bad impression. Your task this week is to find some small way that you can make a difference and take responsibility for that action. It might be straightening up the office, making sure that there are peppermints in a bowl for visitors, or bringing in flowers from time to time. Whatever it is, find one new way to take responsibility for improving your work environment.
As weeks progress, make this a campaign with other people. Get them energized to improve your work environment.
I can’t promise you’ll end up being President for starting this but I’ll guarantee that your effort to take responsibility will be noticed and eventually rewarded.
by Charles Plant | Jul 13, 2012 | Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Development
You’re probably afraid of something. We all are. The key to success in the working world is to ensure that those fears are not debilitating. I’ve done a quick poll to find out what people are afraid of and in a very unscientific manner come up with the top five.
- Public Speaking
- Screwing up
- Speaking up
- Change
- Being yelled at by the boss
It all comes down to fear of being humiliated.
Work is a social place and we all grew up in the schoolyard where humiliation led to being ostracized.
Well it’s time to get over it. The fact is, no one is really watching what you’re doing anyway. Unless you’re already the butt of office jokes, a few slips here and there will go unnoticed.
If you’re the butt of office jokes it’s probably because you’ve failed at making connections with people and they already resent you. Chances are in this case, you are oblivious to the humiliation anyway just as you’re oblivious to others around you.
If you’ve made real connections with people, they will actually feel empathy for you when you screw up.
Now, you might ask, why a picture of Donald Trump. Well its sort of like imagining your boss naked. Nothing is quite so scary as that thought. In this case just think, if The Donald isn’t worried about being humiliated by having the most ridiculous hair in the western world every single day, why are you worried about a little transitory screw up from time to time.
by Charles Plant | Jul 11, 2012 | Leaders, Leadership Development
Leadership is a lot about making good decisions, developing a good strategy, having a vision. So when someone blows it completely, it’s worth noting. Today’s award for business infamy goes to William Orton, president of the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1876. At that time, the company had a monopoly on the telegraph, which at that time was the world’s most advanced communications device.
So wrapped up in the telegraph was Orton that when Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Alexander Graham Bell’s father-in-law, approached Orton with an offer to sell him a patent for the newly invented telephone for $100,000, Orton thought he was kidding.
Orton replied to Bell: “Mr Bell, after careful consideration of your invention, while it is an interesting novelty, we have come to the conclusion that it has no commercial possibilities…What use could this company make of an electrical toy?”
In all the debate about the value of a BA, there is one factor that keeps being missed. BAs make better people managers that those from engineering, accounting, finance, computer science and other left-brained occupations. A BA is a better path to leadership than a BSc.
