When we find out if we’re managers or leaders

I think we all want to be leaders or be lead, few us want to be managed.

Most of us by now will recognise that there are some very key differences between managers and leaders – and being one doesn’t necessarily nullify the other, nor does it guarantee you’re able to do both.

I think the moment we find out is much clearer to those we manage or lead: stress. It’s all about when the shit hits the fan: when we’re having an “emergency” when clients threaten to pull, when our ego is at stake: are we still checking the leadership “check-boxes” or are doing “what needs to be done” and holding everyone accountable yet no one responsible.

I think it’s at times like these when our true leaders shine, and our faux-leaders fall. When suddenly all that talk becomes nothing more than something we say, rather than something we believe.

Key Leadership Indicators

1. Your staff work (or follow) out of passion and commitment, rather than fear and reluctance
2. You are still “leading” your staff when you’re under pressure
3. You still put your people first, even when clients are willing to destroy you

I’ve used a lot of you statements. Maybe that’s my mistake. It should be collective – we’re all in this together. None greater than any other.

We are however, greater than the sum of our parts.

Some of my favourite leaders: Andy Jamieson, Scot Ennis, John Butterworth

The little big things

Do you know someone who has a skill most people over-look or under-value? Share them. Let them know. So many things go un-acknowledged. here’s your chance.

1. Being able to communicate complex things in a simple way, without using 1000 words
2. Creating graphs that are sound, valid and communicative
3. Understanding (actual) risk & consequence
4. Articulating what you’re passionate about
5. Knowing how to make other people excited about what we’re excited about
6. Listening
7. Being able to disagree
8. Being (and remaining) objective

the blesses & curses of attention deficit disorder

Creativity is born in so many ways.  And that’s the way I like to think of it: born.  Ideas have gestation periods – constantly varied gestation periods at that – some instinct thoughts, some long processes.

This is one of the most raw and inspiring presentations I’ve seen – and I have the privilege of knowing Mal personally. Intelligent and insightful – especially over a beer – Mal’s a man with exceptional experience in technology, digital and creativity & design (both virtual and real world).

Innovation, creativity – destruction & creation.

On Social Media: We come from the knowledge management family rather than marketing – to enable social learning – recognising people learn most and best from conversing and sharing experiences with like minded others.

On Design: Design permeates everything and is laden with a history and a future.

On Leadership: Leadership in this environment of social media and knowledge management is all about recognising and respecting that everybody has a story.

- Zaana

This week I talked about the elements of leadership and had some great traction with a number of Tweeters including Zaana Howard, who was kind enough to not only respond with her own insightful blog post, but was also kind enough to take the time to share with me (and now you) some really valuable insights into not only social media, but also knowledge management, learning  and the importance of story and design.

The shot above is one of Zaana’s own artworks (linocut), and is a self portrait of herself at 5 years old (a photo, fairly sure she’s at least 6 now).  The quotes above were my very favourites, and below, you’ll read a perspective on this space like none before.

Who are you, what do you do?

I have been mistakenly called Zanna, Barbara, Howard, Nada and Dana but most often am mistakenly called Zena (followed by Warrior Princess). Some call me a knowledge manager, others a librarian, an artist, a generalist, a designer, a typical Gen Y or a combination of titles. I have been called off the wall, a hippy, worldly, artsy, a forever student, and on occasion been known to be funny. I am mistaken for vegetarian more often than not (although it is my natural inclination to be one) and find it difficult to keep the same haircut for more than a couple of months. I am an Apple supporter (this seems to mean something) and can no longer use non Apple notebooks properly. I talk a lot about going to Sweden and am known for my accessories featuring trees.

In terms of work, I am at CPA Australia in the Knowledge Exchange team working primarily in the social media and online environment to connect our diverse and global membership. We come from the knowledge management family rather than marketing – to enable social learning – recognising people learn most and best from conversing and sharing experiences with like minded others.

What inspires you?

Design – in every aspect, from conception to completion, the people and the stories behind the ideas. Design permeates everything and is laden with a history and a future. At the moment I am particularly inspired by how design and creativity can influence the workplace particularly in the areas of innovation, leadership and organisational effectiveness. Reading much on design thinking, human centred design, and play in the workplace and following the likes of IDEO and Dan Pink.

Biggest lesson you’ve learned to date?

Look up! We so often look down to see the immediate steps we are taking, and look ahead to see what is coming up but so seldom look up to what is happening above us (both physically and metaphorically). How often do we walk through the city and look at all the tops of the buildings rather than the window shopfronts? There is a lot of history above the windows and much that can be learnt and deciphered. Some of my best discovery experiences have been when I have looked up – it’s amazing what you can learn about the environment you are in and how different the world appears – even after you look down again.

Do you think Knowledge Management and Social Media are complimentary? What role does Leadership play?

Definitely. Knowledge management is very much about making what people know visible and enabling the transfer of that knowledge to others (thinking of Charles Leadbeater saying ‘we are no longer what we own, we are what we share’). Social media tools allow people to connect far more easily than ever before. They provide mechanisms for people to discover one another, meet and discuss their knowledge and experiences in the online environment (which may also be carried over in real life). The conversational and informal aspects of social media allows this visibility and transfer to occur more naturally online – with a much larger and diverse audience – enhancing the possibilities for social learning and new knowledge creation.

Leadership in this environment of social media and knowledge management is all about recognising and respecting that everybody has a story. Assume nothing. We ask so few questions and so need to value people individually, discover their story and recognise the potential in everyone. When you see this in action – where someone’s potential is brought to the fore – and what can happen it is truly inspiring and results directly from great leadership.

One piece of advice you have for anyone interested in leadership?

Observe, question, learn – the best lessons are in observing both terrible and amazing leaders and discovering what leadership attributes you aspire to and the kind of leader you want be (and just as importantly what you don’t want to be).

Do we follow to be led?

Almost 12 months ago I was stepping into the differences between leadership and management.  That’s only really half of the scenario. What about the people you’re leading, the people you’re trying to guide, maybe even transform?  Do they/we have some kind of onus or accountability to the equation? Or are the best leaders the one who can overcome any inter-personal obstacle?

At present, I’m really not too sure.  But I did really enjoy reading 10 Ways to be a Great Follower – some of the points really resonated with me. Mainly around the being an optimist and embracing change – too often I’ve come to interact with those who do not see any glint of hope in what they’re doing.  Grown adults sulking and delivering the silent treatment to managers, colleagues and friends: only to wonder why (very loudly in some cases) why nothing is changing or improving.

If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, or if something is frustrating you beyond belief, I think it’s so important to try and take the steps to over come it.  Too often I see people spiral into a negative charge that snow balls out of control.  I use to be quite the same: you get caught up in the anger because its easier and less confronting, but you never achieve a thing. Not a fucking thing.  If you’re not willing to try to achieve anything; then wanting to achieve it will bring you no closer.

In saying so, maybe today I’ve learned that to be a good leader you need to make these things apparent: don’t hide from the feedback and concerns of those around you; but rather embrace them as you would embrace them being led.

Maybe the qualities of great leaders and great supporters aren’t so different?

By providing a platform of understanding and embrace, you’re doing a large part of what you can to be led, and likewise, a large part of what you can to lead.

What do you think?

If you ask someone a question you get an answer, if you observe someone’s behaviour, you get an insight.

What I learned this month

Expectations should not be born from ignorance. Education is fundamental. Communication is key.

Today I gave my presentation for Vibewire Youth event FastBreak Breakfast, which was coordinated between Vibewire and Gavin Heaton (Obi-Wan).There were over 70 people in the room to hear my thoughts around creativity, Scott Drummond talk about connections, Isadore Biffin (and oh my fuck was she a passionate speaker!) talk about collaboration, my new favourite speaker Elias Bizannes who discussed true “commercialisation” and the rock himself Matt Moore who dropped the F bomb of the presentations.

Then we got to chat with all the people in the room under our topic headings.

But, my 4 minutes of spotlight has been overshadowed with sociotques detailed insight:

So we find ourselves in quarterly meetings talking up big ideas with post it notes and brightly coloured pens. Your management team might consider this as providing you with a creative outlet and feel satisfied that they are fostering innovation. It’s obviously not scratching our itch so instead of sitting back and complaining, what are we going to do about it?

Ask yourself today, are you creative?

Every Friday the infamous Coffee Mornings crew meets up at Single Origin Cafe in Surry Hills. We come together to talk ideas and innovation – and we’ve been lucky enough to take part in Vibewire’s e-Festival of Ideas (held in conjunction with the Australian Innovation Festival) known as  FastBREAK – a breakfast where I and 4 others will discuss “the single biggest challenge of innovation”.

There will be five speakers with four minutes to open the debate. From here, the audience can then grab a coffee and come and have an open conversation around discussion with the speaker who interests them most – so I’ll be doing my best to challenge thinking and evoke some responses.

This great FREE event features:

• Conversation – Matt Moore (@Innotecture)
• Connection – Scott Drummond (@Scott_Drummond)
• Collaboration – Isadore Biffin (@IsadoreBiffin)
• Commercialisation – Elias Bizannes (@liako)
• Creativity – Jye Smith (@jyesmith)

Starting at 8:00am and running until 9:30am, this will be a great way to round out your week. Simply RSVP by emailing events@vibewire.org – PLEASE NOTE the venue has changed to Vibewire Enterprise Hub – 525 Harris Street Ultimo!

Sonixtrip - Ep Launch

Over the past 10 years I’ve been playing in a number of bands.  Everything from hard rock, numetal, progressive and ambient.  Generally playing guitar, vocals, bass, and in later projects – synths, pianos and strings. It’s taught me so much about myself and the way people perceive music and performance.  In my ‘real’ life I was previously the National Events Manager for AIMIA.  Running, producing and staging over 40 events in the digital media industry.

It’s time I smashed the two together.

Next week I’m presenting 5 Things That Heavy Metal Taught Me About Conferences at the NSW KM Forum: The Future of Conferences.  I’m still formulating a lot of it, but hopefully will connect with you all about what I’ve learnt, and where I think things might be headed.

Feel free to listen, download, or even buy, my latest EP from Sonixtrip, or check out the new ‘publish-as-I-go’ progressive ambient project Movement & Measure.  Hope to see you next week.

The Future of Conferences (Tuesday 28 April)

WHAT

Conferences have played a major role in professional development for many of us. However the traditional conference format of presentations has been challenged from a variety of angles. Firstly, there has been a proliferation of “unconferences” – from tech-focused BarCamps, World Cafes to communal Open Space events. Secondly, communication technologies such as online community tools, web conferencing, virtual worlds and microblogs offer new ways of interacting beyond face-to-face. Finally, rising travel costs and declining discretionary spend are impacting the economics of meeting. What does this all mean for the future?

This session will be a mix of short, sharp blast of conference future from our presenters below and then discussion & debate by participants.

WHO

Ralph Kerle is Chairman of the Creative Leadership Forum. He is a failed stand-up comedian, an Associate Director of the Sydney Theatre Company and the founder of an events company , Eventures, that over 14 years created and produced major events for Walt Disney, The Royal Melbourne Show, Foxtel & Toyota.

Stephen Lead attends a lot of conferences and seminars – most of which are pretty boring. After one particularly bad technical session he decided to do something about it, and started the first Ignite sessions in Sydney. Stephen believes that conferences of the future will consist of 5 minute presentations, and is willing to show you how.

Alex North has unorganised his way through the co-founding of two Sydney-based startups and into a job as a software engineer at Google. Along the way he’s helped herd cats at the BarCamp Sydney unconference and learned a lot about the power (and fun) of ad-hoc collaboration.

Lucy James is Content Manager with DMG World Media, working on the strategy, speaker faculty and program content for ad:tech, the iMedia Brand Summit and Evanta in Australia. With 5 years experience delivering successful B2B conferences across multiple industries, Lucy is passionate about growing events to their best possible potential.

Jye Smith is Social Media Strategist, Switched On Media. Previously the National Events Manager for AIMIA, held over 45 national events. Likes: digital, social, communities, pretty pictures, music. Dislikes: caffeine abstinence.

John Allsopp is a co-founder of the Web Directions conference series. As a software developer, long standing web development speaker, writer, evangelist and self proclaimed expert, he’s spent the last 15 years working with and developing for the web.

Janine Cahill is an innovation consultant,futurist and founder of Future Journeys which runs foresight events and festivals to engage the public in creating the kind of futures they want. She presents internationally on deepening experiences of the future and designs business simulations and serious games to shift paradigms and to innovate from this new mindset.

Steven Oesterreich developed Loyalty Programmes for Arts organisation such as the Toronto Symphony, Canadian Opera and Canadian Stage Company. He then moved to Australia to developed Loyalty Programmes that have won awards with ADMA, with our work with Subaru and Flower Power. He now leads a team for Ark Group Australia and Singapore.

Katie Chatfield is Creative Strategist for Jack Morton and for the last 12 years she’s worked in creative strategy: the science and chaos of idea generation and subsequent planning and mapping of experiences that change perceptions, habits and behaviours. She uses technology as a bridge for curiosity, love of conversation and making stuff happen.

Matt Moore will reveal what nude videos from Canada have to do with Twitter.

Jodie Miners started in the construction industry and moved further and further into the IT side of the business. Over a conversation on Twitter with some like minded construction industry professionals in London, Be2Camp was born. Be2Camp is an unconference that focuses on the use of IT in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industries.

Geoffrey Bowers is the CEO and application architect for Daemon Internet Consultants. He is the father of WebDU.

Beth Etling is the CEO of The Insight Exchange.  With over 15 years of corporate, non-profit, and special event management experience, Beth has launched, managed and marketed events successfully in Australia, Singapore and the USA.  She has worked with clients such as Intel, Amdocs, and Polycom and looks to build The Insight Exchange into a globally recognized event company.

WHAT NEXT? If you plan to attend please RSVP before COB Friday April 24 by e-mail to: nswkmforum<at>gmail.com (hint: replace the <at> with a normal @ to complete the email address and please include the date and/or title of the event in the subject line).

WHERE PricewaterhouseCoopers Darling Park 201 Sussex Street Enter from Druitt Street, go up the escalators and up the hall. Continue through the foyer until you see the PwC security desk through the doors on your left hand side. Please note: You will need to get a security pass from the security desk in the PwC Foyer, then proceed to main reception on Level 10 and tell reception you are here for the NSW KM forum.

WHEN: 5.30pm for 6pm, Tuesday 28 April.

HOW MUCH: Gold coin donation.

Next week I’ll be moderating the social media session at Search Marketing Expo (#SMX).  SMX will be held on April 4th through 5th, at Luna Park’s Crystal Palaca.  The social media session will be on day two at 1:30pm.  Joining me will be SEO pioneer Rand Fishkin – CEO & Co-Founder, SEOmoz and hero blogger Darren Rowse, ProBlogger.

Make sure you also catch our director, Andy Jamieson – who will be presenting SEO for the SME earlier that day.  Let me know if you’ll be down there – and we can go from Twitter to IRL after learning the etiquette.

Use the discount code “SOMSMX” ($995 + GST) when you register.

Topics during my session:

What Is Ethical Social Media Marketing?

Should social media marketers disclose if they’re working on behalf of a client? Should relationships with power submitters be divulged? Social media marketing is still evolving, and this session looks at some of the ethical questions the area is struggling with.

Speaker Rand Fishkin, CEO – SEOmoz

Twitter Tips & Etiquette

Micro blogging platform Twitter is really gaining ground and is a fast way to build online connections, but how do you use this powerful tool for business use? This session will cover a whole host of valuable tips that will help demystify areas like writing, branding, building a following and Tweeting for corporates.

Speaker: Darren Rowse, Editor – Twit Tip

It appears this thing called innovation is a common everyday occurrence. The reality is one might be able to talk about it as if it is. In practice, the reality is very different.

Innovation is an outcome. Nothing more.

Creativity and invention with their fellow travellers risk, experimentation and the until more recently undiscussable “f” word “failure” are the drivers of innovation.”

- Ralph Kerle, Chairman

Inspiring, refreshing and true.

Attending the AGSM Roundtable on Leadership, Creativity and Innovation left me wide eyed — a room full of truly incredibly experienced and talented people.  I was there to offer the perspectives of working gen-y specifically to give thoughts around the way digital media has transformed the way we interact.

In attendance were 30 of the very top leaders from the arts, business, journalism industries (BRW, Sydney Symphony, Qantas, Delloites, Telstra to name a few) — all with insights from careers spanning longer than I’ve lived.

What does creativity and innovation mean to you?

This is a story about humanity and where design met computers.

Six Pixels of Separation recently wrote The Naked Truth – and with it some very interesting stats about the readiness of us youngsters to get our gear off.  I’m a digital native, in the younger gen-y bracket, but I say: technology is no excuse for irresponsibility. Nor do I think this is (as the article went to put it) a (what we consider) privacy issue.  Still, interesting read never the less.

I’ll never stop anyone taking a nude photo of themselves or their partner — but don’t expect them to keep it to themselves — whether knowingly or unknowingly (human error has left many ‘private’ photos in full view of work colleagues).  Sure, your partner or lover might keep a promise but some (many?) technologies are as quick to keep those promises.

Nor are your friends next time they borrow your phone and find themselves in your gallery.

“One in five teen girls (22%), nearly as many teen boys (18%) and one-third (33%) of young adults say they have electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude photographic or video images of themselves.”

If we move beyond the images and videos, the numbers get just as raw and unnerving. Here’s what was reported today on Marketing Charts for the news item titled, One in Five Teens Sends Sexually Explicit Images:

“On the receiving end of the messages, 48% of teens and 64% of young adults (56% total) say they have gotten a sexually suggestive message from someone else. Among young teen girls (age 13-16), one-third have received such messages. …What teens and young adults are doing electronically seems to have an effect on what they do in real life, the survey found. Nearly one-quarter of teens (22%) say that technology makes them personally more forward and aggressive.”

..

The bigger question: is this going to make people recoil and seek a much higher level privacy, or are we going to continue down this path where all of our lives become open books in online social networks and the like?

Robert Scoble doesn’t mind being naked on Flickr.

2008 brought me together with some of the very best minds in the business and it would be impossible to name them all.  So many great conversations, so many great ideas. So little time.  2008 was definitely a year I met some truly inspirational people in the digital media space.  They’ve challanged my thinking, inspired me to push the envelope and think differently.

• Julian “JuJu” Cole – introductions, continual conversations and great nights out
  
• Gavin Heaton – every coffee morning, and introducing me to a world of story telling
• Katie Chatfield – always inspiring: showing me what it means to stand up for what you believe i
• Scott Drummond – for the countless hours of conversations about life and work
• Brice Lechatellier – vision
• Katie & Simon Harris
  
• Zac Martin
• Tim Noonan
• Tim Longhurst
• Tom Voirol
• Beth Etling
• Stan Lee
• Steven Collins

Often (but never often enough) we get a chance to discuss anything and everything and sometimes in that order.  Nick, too much to possibly account to what I owe you: but thank you.

Mentor, friend, brother. Mind, body and soul.

Privacy and what we consider privacy has changed.
Nick Tyler

There is a lot of commentary on this currently. Good and bad. The problem is that the internet changes the game. Globalisation of our identities. Access all of me anywhere at any time.

What I find fascinating is that there is business view that all responsibility for your identity is your responsibility. Read the small print. If it goes wrong it is your fault. We give you settings but you have to change it to protect yourself.

People are lazy. People are trusting and naïve. I include myself in this. It does not occur to us people would steal or abuse who we are. Like the banks that keep extending your credit. Take more, it is good for you. The same underlying concept is that people can make a free choice to do as they wish. All of our marketing makes no mention of risk. Except for that astrix. Oh evil astrix ;-)

Fundamental flaw is that there are a lot of people who will abuse that trust too. And human nature is evil, competitive and driven so without controls there comes an awful lot of risk. And when business is involved they don’t want anything that may possibly restrict any and every last dollar that can come to them

Make sense. Problem not. I guess it is an underlying theme I am trying to articulate. A perception of reality we cannot quite grasp. Or maybe because these niggling themes of control are fundamentally at odds to the freedom that the capitalistic world has given me. Because if I am right am I advocating controlled censorship for and on behalf individuals. Yet we all scream “I am not a number.”

Hmmmmmm maybe it is that we don’t teach people at a young age that they have choices and that the route to a decisions must involve an evaluation of those choices.

That the responsibility for the consequences of their actions is theirs. But without teaching how to work out the consequences of actions and that these consequences come from everything you do then even that original responsibility becomes compromised.

Shit I am jumping from one theory to the next

HA

To inspire and empower a generation.

I believe that the new generation is pushing a need for authenticity. No longer is there a supposed ‘who cares?’ attitude towards work, the environment or political issues – this is a generation held strong by belief, activism and question.

In a time where the information noise around the financial market, international safety, youth, drugs, sex, etc. rules — the new generation are seeking genuine leadership and progress on a scale not seen before.  We lean forward, and rarely sit back.

In times of old, when a warrior of a tribe would fight for a position of power, it was a demonstration of strength and skill.  When that warrior ascended through certain ranks or levels of authority, it was generally due to his superiors’ acknowledgment that the other troops will follow.

Leadership is achieved through the ability to inspire and empower. Who would you follow onto the battlefield?

Why should this change? I’ve noticed that in fast-growing companies, staff members are often thrust into managerial roles without fully understanding exactly what is going on, and sometimes their teams grow much larger within a short period.  This leaves them feeling overwhelmed — soon the team notices and the breakdown of communication begins.

There are people I’ve met who have truly inspired me, and to be mentored or to work under them would be a true privilege.  I may be at a different point in my career than others, but the conversation that these two words have brought with them is very intriguing.

So tell me — are the two inseparable?  And what are your thoughts?

• Kate Carruthers: @jyesmith the two are inseparable – good leadership with bad mgmt is useless; & bad leadership with good mgmt is also useless
• Katie Chatfield:@jyesmith did Obama lead to victory or did he manage? I think a leader empowers and a manager maintains.
• Katie Chatfield: @kcarruthers @jyesmith Jesus? Gandhi? A leader leads. Managers follow.
• Kate Carruthers: Yep agree that leadership binary, got it or not, but mgmt can be learned or delegated. But leadership is viral, if you demonstrate it then others demonstrate it too. Poor leadership is also viral & IMHO associated with poor mgt

• Anique Vered: @jyesmith a leader guides, inspires, delegates – a manager oversees, and yes, maintains

• Munky75: @jyesmith Concentric circles (for a start). Management being the inner circle and leadership the outer one.

We all have conversations every day.  But why? What inspires you to do so? A lot of people I know are introverted and shy away from new conversations but thrive on conversations with old friends.

Are customers friends we haven’t met? How are you going to start this conversation?

When I talk to someone, when I blog, when I respond: I want to learn.  In fact, in all facets of my life right now, I’m looking to learn as much as possible.  I don’t want to do what I can do, I want to attempt something I haven’t done yet — and use what I’ve already learnt. That, to me, is what I’m trying to do here: here’s what I know so far, now what do you think?

In order to learn, we need to fail.

Whether its coffee mornings or teapots at World Bar — I want to learn more.  What inspires you?