When is Spinning the Message a Good Thing?

Q: In our company we value integrity, yet leaders - especially in marketing - are taught to "spin" to make products and services sound good to clients. When is "spinning" a message a good thing? When it is wrong?

A: Every company that sells products or services "spins" these in a positive way to clients. This is not immoral, illegal, or unethical. It is just good business.

I believe that spinning is perfectly appropriate when:

- The benefits described by the sender of the message are real - and truly add value to the receiver of the message. For the long-term viability of the organization, business transactions need to be "win-win."

- The spinning is done to help the larger good - not just promote the person doing it.

- The sender describing the benefits truly believes that the overall impact to the receiver of the message is positive. For example, great leaders effectively promote their organizations. They may highlight the positives of their companies more than the negatives, but they believe (on balance) that their organizations add value to stakeholders - whether they are employees, stockholders or customers.

- Optimism is balanced with realism. Optimism is a characteristic that is highly correlated with success in any field. Yet optimists often over-commit. In the short-term, positive projections for the future may motivate people to buy products, services or stocks. In the long-term, leaders have to consistently deliver on promises - or they will be seen as being to unreliable to justify an investment.

Spinning becomes dysfunctional when:

- The sender of the message knowingly lies to the receiver. I always teach that leaders who knowingly commit ethics violations should never be coached - they should be fired. Even one integrity violation can ruin an otherwise wonderful organization.

- The spinning is designed to enhance the personal benefit of the sender - at the expense of the receiver. One variation on this theme is the agency problem that recently occurred with sales people who were promoting very shaky mortgages just to collect a commission. This dysfunctional spinning led to countless disasters for buyers - who lost their homes and ruined their credit ratings. This spinning also hurt the financial institutions - which lost billions of dollars.

- The company will not deliver the benefits that are being sold to the receiver of the message.

Life is good.

Marshall

Every two years there is a global survey to determine the world’s top 50 business thinkers. In 2009 Marshall's friend the late CK Prahalad was ranked #1 and Marshall was ranked #14. To participate in the 2011 Thinkers 50, visit http://www.thinkers50.com/vote.

My newest book, MOJO, is a New York Times (advice), Wall Street Journal (business), USAToday (money) and Publisher's Weekly (non-fiction) best seller. It is now available online and at major bookstores.

http://www.MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com

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7 Steps to Boost Your Leadership Self-Confidence

Q: What advice do you have for a leader whose bosses say needs to exhibit more self-confidence while still being collaborative and authentic?

A: Thank you for this great question.

I rarely encounter this issue in my work with CEOs and potential CEOs because people at the top of huge organizations don't often have self-confidence problems. But I have had several inquiries lately about helping future leaders who need to demonstrate more self-confidence.

Let me give you a few suggestions that I give leaders who have self-confidence issues (then I'll ask our readers to pitch in with more suggestions):

1. Decide if you really want to be a leader. Many of the MBAs who report self-confidence issues are brilliant technicians. They often find the uncertainty and ambiguity of leading people very unsettling. They are looking for the "right answers" - similar to the ones in engineering school. In some cases, brilliant technical experts should continue to be brilliant technical experts - and not feel obligated to become managers.

2. Make peace with ambiguity in decision making. There are usually no clear right answers when making complex business decisions. Even CEOs are guessing.

3. Gather a reasonable amount of data, involve people, then follow your gut and do what you think is right.

4. Accept the fact that you are going to fail on occasion. All humans do.

5. Have fun! Life is short. Why should you expect your direct reports to demonstrate positive enthusiasm, if they don't see it in you?

6. Once you make a decision, commit and go for it. Don't continually second guess yourself. If you have to change course, you have to change course. If you never commit, all you will ever do is change course.

7. Demonstrate courage on the outside, even when you don't feel it on the inside. We are all afraid on occasion -- that is just part of being human. If you are going to lead people in tough times, you will need to show more courage than fear. When direct reports read worry and concern on the face of a leader, they begin to lose confidence in the leader's ability to lead.

Life is good.

Marshall

Every two years there is a global survey to determine the world’s top 50 business thinkers. In 2009 Marshall's friend the late CK Prahalad was ranked #1 and Marshall was ranked #14. To participate in the 2011 Thinkers 50, visit http://www.thinkers50.com/vote.

My newest book, MOJO, is a New York Times (advice), Wall Street Journal (business), USAToday (money) and Publisher's Weekly (non-fiction) best seller. It is now available online and at major bookstores.

http://www.MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com

#MOJOtweet

http://www.LeadingNews.org

http://www.MarshallGoldsmithFeedForward.com

Marshall's Upcoming Schedule

Choosing to Change

I've had the good fortune to work with some of the most successful people in the business world. One thing I've noticed about them is they have unflappable optimism - they believe they will succeed, even under tough circumstances. They tend to pursue opportunities with an enthusiasm others might find mystifying.

Successful people also have an intense need for self-determination. They believe they do what they do because they choose to do it - not because they have to do it! The more successful someone is, the more likely this is the case. These two characteristics are connected. When we do what we choose to do, we're more committed to it and enthusiastic about it. When we do what we are expected to do or even forced to do, we merely are compliant and more apt to go through the motions just to get it done.

You see the difference in attitude in any job, even when money isn't related to performance. When I attended high school in Kentucky, even an attitudinally challenged student like me could see some teachers had a calling for the profession, whereas others did it to make a living. Not surprisingly, the best teachers were the former. They were committed to teaching and to the success of their students - rather than being controlled by external forces, such as a steady paycheck or summer vacations. Successful people have a unique distaste for feeling controlled or manipulated. I see this in my work every day.

Cognitive Dissonance

Even when I've gotten the greatest introduction as someone who can help others change for the better, I can still meet game-breaking resistance. I have made peace with the fact that I cannot make people change; I can only help them get better at what they choose to change.

Unfortunately, getting people who think "I have chosen to succeed" to add "and I choose to change" is not easy. The more we believe our behavior is a result of our own choices, the less likely we are to find behavioral changes desirable.

There's a reason for this, and it's one of the best researched principles in psychology. It's called cognitive dissonance, which refers to the disconnect between what we believe in our minds and what we experience in the world. The underlying theory is simple: The more committed we are to believing something is true, the less likely we are to believe the opposite is true, even in the face of clear evidence that demonstrates we are, in fact, wrong.

For example, if you deeply believe one of your colleagues is a jerk, you will filter everything he does through that belief, regardless of his actual conduct. No matter what he does, you'll see it through a prism that confirms your preconceived views. It might take years of saintly behavior on his part to overcome this negative perception. That's cognitive dissonance applied to others, and it can be a force of disruption and inequity in the workplace.

Prevailing Over Hardship

Yet, this same principle can actually work in favor of successful people when they apply it to themselves. It's the reason successful people won't buckle or waver when times get tough. Their commitment to their goals and beliefs allows them to view their reality through rose-tinted glasses and happily prevail over almost any hardship.

That's a good thing in many situations. Personal commitment encourages people to stay the course and not give up when the going gets tough.

Similarly, as you embark on changes large and small, try to keep your eyes on the prize and put a positive spin on setbacks. In other words, choose to change, and stick to it. Yet realize your very commitment is going to make it hard to hear negative feedback. Successful change occurs when we can walk the fine line between stubbornness and spinelessness - and demonstrate sincere commitment along with thoughtful openness.

Life is good.

Marshall

Every two years there is a global survey to determine the world’s top 50 business thinkers. In 2009 Marshall's friend the late CK Prahalad was ranked #1 and Marshall was ranked #14. To participate in the 2011 Thinkers 50, visit http://www.thinkers50.com/vote.

My newest book, MOJO, is a New York Times (advice), Wall Street Journal (business), USAToday (money) and Publisher's Weekly (non-fiction) best seller. It is now available online and at major bookstores.

http://www.MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com

#MOJOtweet

http://www.LeadingNews.org

http://www.MarshallGoldsmithFeedForward.com

Marshall's Upcoming Schedule

Measuring Up On the Job - and On the Homefront

In business we spend a great deal of time measuring. We keep close tabs on sales, profits, rate of growth, and return on investment. In many ways, part of being an effective leader is setting up systems to measure everything that matters. It's the only way that we can know for sure how we're doing.

Given our addiction to measurement - and its documented value - you would think that we would be more attuned to measuring the way we act at home. After all, almost everyone I know agrees that the people at home are even more important than the people at work.

About 18 years ago, I decided that I wanted to be a better father. So I asked my daughter, Kelly, "what can I do to be a better parent?" (This is a question that we, as parents, don't ask enough.)

Causing My Daughter Pain

"Daddy," she said, "you travel a lot, but that is not what bothers me. What really bothers me is the way you act when you are at home. You talk on the telephone, you watch sports on TV, and you don't spend much time with me."

As she went on, I began to wonder if I should have asked this question after all. "One weekend, after you had been gone for a couple of weeks, I wanted to go to a party at my friend's house. Mommy didn't let me go. I had to stay home to spend time with you. Then you didn't spend any time with me. That wasn't right!"

I was stunned. First off, she totally nailed me, and secondly, I felt like an oafish dad who had unwittingly caused his daughter pain. There's no worse feeling in the world. I recovered best I could by using a simple response that I teach all of my clients. I said, "Thank you. Daddy will do better."

Family Time Helped My Earnings

From that moment, I started keeping track of how many days I spent at least four hours interacting with my family without the distraction of TV, movies, football, or the telephone. I'm proud to say that I got better. In the first year, I logged 92 days with four hours of unencumbered interaction with my family. The second year, 110 days. The third, 131 days. The fourth, 135 days.

(As an aside, I made more money the year that I spent 135 days with my family than I had ever made before. What did I learn? The San Diego Chargers don't really care about me.)

When we track a number, it may remind people that we are really trying to change. It's one thing to tell your family members that you'll spend more time with them. It's a different ball game if you attach a real number to that goal - a number they are aware of. They become much more sensitized to the fact that you're trying to change. They also get the message that you care. This can never be a bad thing.

One-on-One Pays Off

Many things in life are measurable that we don't think about: hours spent with our family members, the number of times we call our parents, or (my wife's favorite for me), the days we remember to pick up after ourselves.

Another easy measurement that I tracked was the number of days I spent 10 minutes engaging my wife and each of my kids in one-on-one conversations. Ten minutes is not a long time, but it's a significant improvement on zero. I found that if I measured the activity, I was much more likely to do it. If I faltered, I always told myself, "Well, I can get a credit toward my goal, and it only takes me 10 minutes." Without that measurable goal, I was much more likely to blow it off.

Four years after that first conversation with my daughter, I was beaming with pride, not only with the results, but also with the fact that I had documented them. I was so proud, in fact, that I went to my kids, both teenagers by this time, and said, "Look kids, 135 days. What's the target this year? How about 150 days?"

My Kids Had Changed, Too

Both children groaned and expressed the opinion that I had "overachieved." They both called for a massive reduction of "Dad time." In fact, my son, Bryan, concluded that 50 days might be a much better goal.

I wasn't discouraged by their suggestions. It was an eye-opener. I was so focused on my own numbers, on improving my at-home performance each year, that I forgot that my kids had changed, too. An objective that made sense when they were 9 and 11 years old didn't make sense when they were teenagers. It was a good reminder that the goal shouldn't be just about yourself but should take into account the needs of others as well.

What do you need to measure, not at work, but with friends and family members? Please send in any comments with your ideas. Who knows? The measurements that will help you may also help them.

Life is good.

Marshall

Every two years there is a global survey to determine the world’s top 50 business thinkers. In 2009 Marshall's friend the late CK Prahalad was ranked #1 and Marshall was ranked #14. To participate in the 2011 Thinkers 50, visit http://www.thinkers50.com/vote.

My newest book, MOJO, is a New York Times (advice), Wall Street Journal (business), USAToday (money) and Publisher's Weekly (non-fiction) best seller. It is now available online and at major bookstores.

http://www.MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com

#MOJOtweet

http://www.LeadingNews.org

http://www.MarshallGoldsmithFeedForward.com

Marshall's Upcoming Schedule