The Leadership Playlist

It is a leader's responsibility to provide direction. But sometimes leaders need to take direction. Case in point is the advice campaign manager David Plouffe gave to candidate Barack Obama during his senatorial campaign in 2004. "You just have to let go and trust" your people, Plouffe told Obama, as he recounts in his new book. To his credit, the candidate did learn to let go and allow others to manage the campaign while he focused on being the candidate.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is considered one of the greatest corporate storytellers on the world stage. Jobs inspires intense loyalty and also scares the heck out of his people. But there is no question he has transformed the typical dull, plodding, technical presentation into a theatrical experience. Here are 7 techniques that Jobs has learned about inspiring his audience; tips that you can use to wow your employees, customers, investors, or anyone else you need to motivate.

If you're a leader who thinks that technology offers a screen to hide behind, think again. The visual technology revolution is making body language more important than ever. Soon you will be interacting face-to-face with even greater frequency, even if those interactions are mediated by a screen. Leaders will need to master these new technologies to communicate effectively with their followers, employees, customers and clients.

Here are five new advances in technology and research that show how non-verbal cues will remain as significant -- if not more significant -- in our digital future.

It's hard to keep up with the latest leadership books. Of the many that cross my desk, here are two that have caught my attention this fall.

Seven Lessons for Leading in Crisis, by Bill George (Aug. 2009)

This short book from Harvard B-school prof and former Medtronic CEO Bill George functions like a pocket-sized handbook version of his popular book, True North. If you know a leader dealing with a crisis -- and who isn't right now? -- this might be a good book to slip in their briefcase. Its seven principles -- face reality, ask for help, find the root cause, focus on the long term, take advantage of change, lead with integrity and go on the offense -- provide immediate direction and focus.

Leaders are reeling these days. They've been alone on the hot seat for months -- making gut wrenching decisions, withstanding white-hot criticism, and managing politically charged, increasingly unreasonable stakeholder expectations.

Below are four of the toughest, most complex challenges leaders are facing today, along with advice on how to handle them.

1. Implementing Lay-Offs

Restructuring is a gut-wrenching task and is among the most dreaded responsibilities of a leader. It is possible, however, to bring some level-headed process to this emotionally charged task.

First, rank your priorities. Identify essential outcomes -- outputs that your company or your customers cannot live without -- and call these Tier 1. Next think of outcomes that you or your customers could get by without, albeit with some difficulty. In Tier 3, put all staffing, tasks, products and processes you and your customers can live without -- these have to go. Next, ask yourself: Which functions in Tier 1 or 2 could be subcontracted out without seriously eroding quality? These areas are where you can make some staffing cuts.

Another tactic is "forced weighting." Create a chart with every departmental output as a row, and success criteria (e.g. margin, reputation, customer retention, uniqueness) as columns. Rank each column as "A," crucial; "B," important; or "C," desirable. Enter checkmarks in cells indicating which outputs achieve which success criteria. This chart will make it clearer, in black and white, where cuts have to happen.

Before releasing anyone, however, carefully consider the functional versatility of personnel. Could someone performing a non-essential function be redeployed to cover a more vital task? And remember: The best subcontractors are often previous employees.

2. Motivating Remaining Staff

During an economic crisis, when so many quantitative indicators compete for attention, the power of committed human spirits is often overlooked. The ability to marshal and optimize this mighty resource is directly related to one's ability to craft and deliver a resonant message.

Human motivation cannot be commanded -- it must be elicited. And an inspiring message must link to each of four core values: producing results, helping others, being flexible, and achieving certainty. When messages are packaged to resonate with all these values, increased productivity and loyalty -- even in the midst of hard times -- becomes the deliberate, voluntary choice of each individual.

3. Delivering More With Less

Once you've made personnel cuts, remaining employees can feel they now have insurmountable workloads -- whether real or imagined. The first task is to distinguish essential functions from those that masquerade as such, and often the best person to ask these tough questions is a dispassionate third party. Ask your people:

• How much time is required for the functions you perform, in terms of hours per week/month?
• Which of your functions, with proper training, could be done by a subordinate?
• Which functions do not require your level of intellect or experience?

The total hours calculation alone can be breathtaking. Often, those with the heaviest workloads are forced to realize they are complicit in being "overwhelmed" because they refuse to delegate their work. Answers to the other questions can start important conversations about whether more staff development is needed, which meetings lack value, and what kinds of work are most engaging and exciting.

4. Planning for an Uncertain Future

More guts, more grit, more of the self is required to hold positions of leadership today than even a year ago, and the costs exacted from leaders are becoming extreme. Rapidly stabilizing your organization amid tumultuous times is essential, but leading such transformations requires you, as the the boss, to get there first. Where can you go for objective advice, for additional intellectual bandwidth? How can you exude resilience, energy and confidence despite the ambiguity around you?

Realize that you don't have to wrestle with your leadership challenges alone. Create your own group of advisers and professional allies who have the breadth, depth and reach to share lessons learned. There are elite, fire-tested peer groups and service providers equipped with decades of experience and vast networks who can triage with you quickly and effectively. Such groups are commonly referred to as mastermind groups; they can fortify your already seasoned leadership skills and help you stabilize your organization.

Implementing these four tips will not only show a commitment to bringing stability back to the lives of your employees, but will also demonstrate leadership qualities that may inspire even the most pressured and battle-weary executives in your team. Stay strong!

You might feel a bit out-of-the-loop if you missed last month's Aspen Ideas Festival, but even the patient are the rewarded: You can now watch many of the sessions on video. Of interest to the leadership world is a session on "Navigating the Global Economy," with Boeing International president Shephard W. Hill, Royal Phillips Electronics CEO Gerard Kleisterlee and Carlyle Group managing director David Rubenstein.

If consuming content online is not enough, however, there are many upcoming events to choose from. As public relations firm Weber Shandwick reported in January, the recession hasn't put a dent in the conference circuit -- if anything demand for conferences is up. Here are four leadership events coming up this summer and fall:

1. The Leadership Challenge Forum, Aug. 6-7, 2009, Chicago

If you loved the book, The Leadership Challenge -- recently named one of the top 10 leadership books of all time -- then get yourself to Chicago next week for this conference run by authors (and "On Leadership" panelists) Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. This year's theme is: "Leveraging Leadership Across Generations."

2. Becoming a Leader We Need Workshop, Sept. 10-11, Washington D.C.

If you know Mike Maccoby's writing, then you know he brings cool and often counter-intuitive insights to the field of leadership studies, which, as we know, is sometimes inflated with lofty language and too many bullet-pointed lists. In this workshop, based on his 2007 Harvard Business Press book, The Leaders We Need: And What Makes Us Follow, Maccoby and co-leader Jim Meier lead participants in understanding their own personalities, developing their leadership philosophies, and designing an action plan for bringing that learning to life.

3. Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, Sept. 22-25, New York City

If you want to be in a room with a frightening number of important and amazing people, you might want to get yourself to Manhattan in late September for the CGI annual meeting. High-level political attendees will include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (okay, no surprise there), Larry Summers, Valerie Jarrett and more than 30 current and former heads of state. From the financial industry, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will be there, along with Cisco CEO John Chambers, WellPoint CEO Angela Braley, and Mexican investor Carlos Slim. There will also be an exhibition bout between Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent and Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi to settle, once for and for all, the Coke-vs.-Pepsi question (okay, just kidding about the fight, but both CEOs are scheduled to attend.)

4. International Leadership Association Global Conference, Nov. 11-14, Prague

This event, expected to attract more 600 participants, is the 11th annual meeting of the International Leadership Association, which is based at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland. With a focus on the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Czech Republic's Velvet Revolution, the conference brings together an international audience (primarily North American and Western European) to discuss all things leadership, while soaking up Czech history and culture.

What leadership events are you planning to attend? Keep us posted.

All leaders express enthusiasm, warmth and confidence as well as arrogance, indifference and displeasure through their facial expressions, gestures, touch and use of space. If an executive wants to be perceived as credible and forthright, her or she has to think "outside the speech" and recognize the importance of nonverbal communication.

Whether you are a business executive promoting a vision for your company or a politician promoting a vision for the country, people interpret what you say to them only partially from the words you use. They are picking up most of your message (and all of the emotional nuance behind the words) from your nonverbal signals.

Here are five video clips that show the role of body language in leadership:

Watch those facial expressions

In last year's presidential debates, both candidates made facial expression errors. (Then) Senator Obama minimized his emotional reactions and reinforced the impression that he was remote and "cold." Senator McCain's forced grins and eye rolling in the third debate sent a negative signal that was reflected instantly in polls rating likeability: Obama scored 70% to McCain's 22%.

Talk with your hands if you know what they're saying

When people are being deceitful or guarded, they tend to use hand and arm gestures less than usual. They may keep their hands by their side, stuff them in pockets, clutch an object tightly, or clench their fists -- all gestures which are saying, "I'm holding on to something and I'm not going to open up to you."

When being truthful or forthcoming, people tend to use open gestures, showing their palms and wrists and spreading hands and arms away from their bodies, as if saying, "See, I have nothing to hide." Watch former eBay CEO (and current California gubernatorial candidate) Meg Whitman use these open and inclusive gestures as she addresses the Commonwealth Club.

Show your whole body

In this fast-paced, techno-charged era of email, blogs, wikis and IMs, one universal truth remains: Face-to-face is still the most preferred, productive and powerful communication medium. And to get the most bang for your communication buck - the best leaders get out from behind the lectern so the audience can see their entire bodies. They fully face the audience, make eye contact, keep their movements relaxed and natural, and stand tall - all of which are nonverbal signs of credibility and competence. Steve Jobs is a master at this, as you can see in his speech at MacWorld 2007 unveiling the iPhone.

Don't go overboard

There is nothing more convincing than genuine enthusiasm for your message. (Which is why no body language coach can "magically" make any leader appear to be passionate about a organizational change he doesn't truly believe in or a product launch she isn't really sold on.) But, too much enthusiasm can also be seen as over-the-top. Take a look at Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer introducing himself to an audience with dancing, jumping and shouting.

Align your words and gestures

It is crucial to communicate congruently - that is, to align your body language to support an intended message. Whenever your nonverbal signals contradict your words, the people you are addressing -- employees, customers, voters -- become confused. And, if forced to choose, they will discount your words and believe what your body said.

Sir Howard Stringer, the chair and CEO of Sony USA, is usually an eloquent and congruent speaker. But during a recent meeting with reporters in Tokyo, he didn't appear as confident as his words would have us believe. The problem was that Stringer was playing with his ballpoint pen, a nonverbal "pacifying" behavior that we expect to see when someone is under stress or needs reassurance.

So next time you engage those around you -- whether that means addressing an audience of hundreds or simply running a weekly department meeting -- stay aware of your gestures and expressions. They may communicate a lot more than your words.

Last week I was lucky enough to attend a conference, "How Can Leadership Be Taught?" hosted by the Harvard Business School and organized by professors Scott Snook, Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana. The two-day event included nearly 30 demonstrations of how leadership can be taught. This was not dry academia: Presenters had us on our feet, visiting battlefields, sharing stories and even drawing pictures. Here are some of the presentations that caught my attention.

1.Where Army Leaders Meet -- Online

Lt. Col. Tony Burgess introduced us to CompanyCommand, an online community for Army company-level leaders in the Army. Burgess created CompanyCommand and its sister site, PlatoonLeader, with fellow West Point alum, Lt. Col. Nate Allen. Together, they wanted to facilitate "front porch"-type conversations and help overcome the isolation that military leaders can face when they assume command.

But the sites are more than discussion boards: The latest version includes interactive learning, such as short videos, shot on location in Iraq and other places, in which Army leaders share tricky dilemmas they have faced. At the conference, we watched an Army officer explain how he had spent months organizing a meeting with key Iraqi leaders -- only to have a American soldier make a disparaging comment at the wrong moment, prompting a walk-out from the Iraqis. What to do? Online users can write in their own answers, then see what not only what fellow leaders and leadership experts have said, but how the real-life story ended. (In this case, the officer made the soldier apologize in person to the Iraqi leaders.)

These online communities offer a model of how to teach leadership online, as well as how to effectively organize peer-driven communities around leadership.

2. Where Drama Meets Leadership

Midway into the conference, a presenter walked to the center of the room. In the audience, we expected her to fire up a PowerPoint presentation and walk us through some bullet points. Instead, she broke into song. Not exactly what you'd expect in a roomful of academics and executives, but her point was made: the courage, poise, and emotional authenticity needed to sing are also, and not coincidentally, the attributes good leaders need to engage and inspire others. The singing presenter was Belle Linda Halpern, a principal of The Ariel Group, a Massachusetts-based firm that provides "theater-based" training programs on leadership and other topics for executives and organizations.

Great actors, Halpern and her colleague Richard Richards, pointed out, do more than simply pretend to be someone else on screen. Rather, they "find a side of the character they can find in themselves" and perform with authenticity. Leaders, like actors, then, are charged with a similar task: Inhabiting their own skins and expressing themselves to others. Hopefully, however, most leaders will be able to do this without breaking into song.

3. Looking Inward for Answers

At the conference, we were treated to a presentation from Bill George, known for his dynamic, even edgy, teaching style. George began his session by asking us to write down the one thing we didn't want anyone else in the room to know about us. It wasn't a comfortable assignment, especially with new acquaintances sitting on either side of us, but that seemed to be exactly what George was after: Putting us on knife's edge, pondering the hard questions. "Everyone wants to know who you really are," he said, and yet we hide some of the most important things about ourselves.

The question, he said, is, "When do you go from seeking the world's esteem to being grounded in fulfilling your own intrinsic desires?" Not a small question, but not an impossible one either. George brought with him two students who had been through his class and lived to tell about it. They shared their own personal stories with our conference; Rye Barcott told how he managed his non-profit in the Nairobi slums while on mission with the Marines in Djibouti, while another student, born in Jamaica, told how she struggled with balancing her obligations to her family in impoverished Jamaica with her own career in finance. Both explained how George broke the class up into small groups, and how each student had to tell -- with an excruciating level of honesty -- their own personal narrative. The point of focusing inward, said George, is obvious. "Every leader who has failed has primarily failed to lead themselves."

4. Learning Leadership Beyond the Classroom

Just when we'd had enough of sitting at our desks, our leadership conference boarded buses, en masse, and drove to Lexington and Concord, Mass., site of the first battles of what became the Revolutionary War. Author and speaker (and On Leadership panelist) Ed Ruggero gave us the background to the battle, how the colonists had been resisting taxation from the mother country, England, and why violence between colonists and Red Coats was in the air. Once at the Concord battlefield, we walked through the misty, green landscape, and Ruggero brought the scene to life, explaining how the British troops found themselves trapped with few options, facing off with angry, gun-wielding "Minutemen" who eventually chased them all the way back to Boston.

This on-the-ground discussion of leadership is part of a military tradition known as the "staff ride," a tradition started in the U.S. after the Civil War, when nearby battlefields made optimal "classrooms" for teaching military units about combat, strategy and leadership. "Being there helps you realize all the pressure leaders faced in that moment," said Ruggero. But as one participant point out after our own staff ride was over, the model can be extended beyond the military metaphors: Visiting any place where dramatic decisions have played out offers a chance for leadership learning. Who knows, maybe Dick Fuld will be leading staff rides at Lehman Brothers in the future.

What leadership experiences have been most meaningful for you? Help us collect leadership teaching and learning resources here.

We're in the midst of the worst economic crisis in decades, and many people in leadership positions haven't seen anything like it before. As an executive coach, I know that leaders often make decisions out of fear of what could happen instead of crafting a plan to ensure that everyone stays on track through the bad times. Surviving a recession can feel a bit like sailing without sails, so here are a few tips to help you stop, think and weather the crisis:

1. Battle Workplace Anxiety

Workplace cultures are fragile. Employees get nervous when the economy turns sour: They wonder if they'll have a job tomorrow, let alone next week. If it isn't managed properly, such anxiety can pervade a business and have disastrous ramifications. Leaders have to assume a role beyond juggling their usual responsibilities to curtail fears about the future. Executive coach Mary Beth O'Neill discusses coaching CEOs and other leaders on people management in "Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart." O'Neill details how leaders can stand back from crisis situations and assess what needs doing first.

2. Know When to Take a Break

Even though leading an organization through a recession requires special effort, working yourself to death won't make it any easier. If people in leadership positions go on vacation, they often have one eye on their cell phones and the other on their laptops for most of it. Don't be afraid of daydreaming with a daiquiri during that long overdue trip: Recent research from the University of British Columbia finds that the human brain is actually working overtime to solve problems during daydreaming, while a 2006 study, recently written up in Kellogg Insight, touts the value of "deliberation without attention." So, take that vacation to clear your mind. It might be a better way to solve dilemmas than focusing on them all day, every day.

3. Delegate as Needed

Learning to delegate work is important because it means that someone else is doing what you've probably done for years. The less bogged down in detail you are, the better. Most leaders don't delegate because, at some level, they believe they can do the work better and faster. This thought process isn't useful and can reflect a micro-management style that is especially hard to maintain when times are tough, and employees are nervous. There is a link between feeling comfortable delegating work and emotional intelligence; perceptive leaders are better at reading people's natural talents and letting them take risks. For more reading on how to lead intelligently, check out Daniel Goleman's essential 2002 book (co-authored with Richard Boyatzis and Anne McKee), "Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence."

4. Rediscover Simplicity

Human beings often do things a certain way out of habit, not because it brings about the results we want. Many leaders are so busy that simplicity gets lost in their approach to work, but hard economic times can be a "reality check" for businesses and make inefficiency obvious. The "Keep it Simple, Stupid" principle has been around for a long time for a reason--it needs to be said regularly, albeit in a tactful way, to others and yourself. Management expert Ken Blanchard developed the concept of "The One Minute Manager," and in that book he outlines simple management techniques that focus on setting clear, attainable goals and continually re-evaluating progress.

5. Replace the Square Pegs

Above all, leaders must create tight-knit, confident teams to survive the recession, but there's no point in following the above principles if you have the wrong employees. Consider the time you spend trying to make difficult employees fit in with your workplace, instead of investing time into ensuring your business can work towards its larger goals. Take the time to get good people in place now, and with so many talented people out of work, this may be the best season to think about hiring. The recession will end, and when it does, you want to emerge with the strongest team possible.

What's helping you get through these tough times?

Note: Merydith Willoughby is an organization development consultant who delivers services to organizations in Australia and the U.S. Her second book, Sex in the Boardroom, was released in January 2009.

New studies look at life-threatening leadership, recession-era CEO turnover, and why founder CEOs are less likely to get fired when the books are cooked. Here's a round-up of interesting and provocative recent findings on leadership:

1. Workplace Leadership and Heart Disease

Having a bad boss can be unpleasant, yes, but a study published late last year by six Scandanavian researchers found something more troubling: Bad leadership might be harmful to your health. Tracking the heart health of 3,122 Swedish male employees over nearly a decade (the incidence of heart disease among women was too infrequent to measure), the researchers found that those whose gave their bosses low leadership marks had a higher risk of heart disease.

The employees rated their leaders on "concrete managerial behaviors, such such as the manager's consideration for the individual employee, provision of clarity in goals and role expectations, supplying information and feedback, ability to carry out changes at work successfully, and promotion of employee participation and control." The researchers' conclusion? Interventions to prevent heart disease among employees should focus on improving managers' leadership skills.

2. CEO Turnover Declines in 2008

Though GM's newly departed Richard Wagoner might be setting a new trend for 2009, last year CEOs in the U.S. and Europe "demonstrated remarkable recession resistance," according to an annual study from management consulting firm Booz & Company.

The survey of 2,500 global companies found a 0.5% decrease in CEO turnover in 2008 as compared with 2007, while in Europe CEO stability increased by 1.9%. Not huge changes, to be sure, but the researchers conclude that "the nature of the recession is leading boards of directors of Western companies to stick with the leaders they know." The report did find, however, that CEOs in the financial sector and energy industry were on shakier ground: The rate of "forced turnover" (i.e. booting a CEO because of bad performance) was 8.8% last year in the financial sector, "more than double the historical rate of 3.4%."

3. CFOs, Watch Your Back

Speaking of CEO turnover, University of Miami professor Andrew Leone looked at newly public companies who experienced accounting irregularities, and compared the outcomes for founder CEOs versus outcomes for non-founder CEOs. In findings set to be published later this year in The Accounting Review, Leone found a dramatic difference. Founder CEOs left the company in 29% of the cases, while non-founders were left or were forced out at a rate of 49%.

Meanwhile, CFOs at companies run by founders were more likely to fired, implying that the financial officers may become "scapegoats" for the accounting problems. Leone, who opens his paper with reference to Steve Jobs being absolved by his board of any wrongdoing in a case of backdated executive stock options, concludes by saying that "board-initiative investigations" into accounting irregularities -- which is how the "vast majority" of companies handle such cases, he writes -- "lack objectivity when the CEO in question is the founder of the firm."

How do you know when you're a leader? The crudest measurement, of course, is your title: If it includes the word "chief" then you're in charge of something. CEO stands for Chief Executive Officer, as we all know, but you might not be so familiar with the new chief-doms gaining ground in the public and private sectors.

Here's my guide to a world where everyone's a chief:

1. The Washington Chiefs

President Obama has added three new C-level titles to the federal government: Chief Technology Officer and Chief Performance Officer, positions currently filled by Aneesh Chopra and Jeffrey Zients, respectively. Both men work with the government's first Chief Information Officer, Vivek Kundra. All the new chiefs make the cabinet-level positions sound a bit outdated: Who wants to be a secretary when you can be a chief?

2. Chief Happiness Officer

Okay, I couldn't actually find any companies that actually have Chief Happiness Officers (if you are out there, give us a shout,) but simply Google the term, and you'll discover one of those fun and addictive blogs, Chief Happiness Officer, written by Danish speaker/author/consultant Alexander Kjerulf. His blog is not actually a how-to guide for fictional executives, but it does give plenty of off-the-wall advice for keeping people happy at work (which we all know leads to more productivity, the end of global warming, etc.) If you read one thing today, check out Alexander's recent post on cool work places, which includes this no-it's-not-a-joke Conference Bike.

Point here being that the very concept of C-level officers has become a great marketing tool. Just ask the folks who created the idea of Chief Home Officers (teleworkers) or Chief Family Officers (moms).

3. Chief Social Media Officer

First, there was discussion of whether companies needed Chief Blogging Officers. Now that blogging has become just one aspect of interactive media online, the discussion has turned to the need for Chief Social Media Officers. Presumably, the Chief Twitter Officer and Chief Facebook Officer will report to the CSMO.

4. Chief Receptionist Officer

As you've noticed, there may be too many chiefs spoiling the broth here, and this Knowledge@Wharton headline takes the concept to its absurd extreme, imagining a world where the reception is also a chief. In the article, Wharton profs explain the trend's backstory, how "title promotions" in many cases have become stand-ins for salary increases. That is, your employer can't offer you more money, but if you go from being, say, an Environmental Risk Analyst to a Chief Environmental Officer, your resume looks great, and in this era, you're probably destined to move onto a new job anyways. But the title does still have some meaning, says Wharton professor Ben Campbell: An executive titles says, "'Here is somebody who is a strategic thinker and has strategic responsibilities.'"

5. Chief Recession Officer

New social, political and economic trends bring their own C-level inspiration. Sarbanes-Oxley legislation gave rise to the existence of Chief Compliance Officers or Chief Governance Officers. A concern for diversity has resulted in Chief Diversity Officers. With economic pressures now being what they are, should we expect to see the emergence of Chief Firing Officers, Chief Stimulus Officers or Chief No-More-Budget-for-Christmas-Parties Officers?

Tell us, what kind of chief executive officer would you like to be?