Morten Hansen on “How Great Leaders Make Their Own Luck”

Morten Hansen is a professor at University of California, Berkeley, and at INSEAD, France. He was previously a professor at Harvard Business School for a number of years. Prior to joining Harvard University, Hansen obtained his Ph.D. from the business school at Stanford University. In addition to his academic career, Hansen was a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in the London, Stockholm and San Francisco offices. He was part of the research teams for the international best-selling books Built to Last and Good to Great. Hansen’s research on collaboration has won several prestigious awards, including the best article awards from Sloan Management Review and Administrative Science Quarterly, the leading academic journal in the field. Several of his Harvard Business Review articles have been bestsellers for a number of years. He regularly consults with companies on collaboration and gives keynotes at leadership conferences. His new management book is Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results (Harvard Business School Press, 2009) and, more recently, Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck–Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, co-authored with Jim Collins (HarperBusiness, 2011). A native of Norway, Hansen holds a Master’s degree in finance from London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Stanford University where he was a Fulbright scholar.

To watch an interview of Morten during which he shares his thoughts about “How Great Leaders Make Their Own Luck” please click here.

To read my interview of Morten and Jim Collins, please click here.

 

 

 

The Social Organization: A book review by Bob Morris

The Social Organization: How to Use Social Media to Tap the Collective Genius of Your Customers and Employees
Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. McDonald
Harvard Business Review Press (2011)

How and why organizational success with social media “is fundamentally a leadership and management challenge”

I agree with Anthony Bradley and Mark McDonald that leaders in many (most?) organizations incorrectly assume that success with social media is fundamentally a matter of effective technology implementation. That is important, of course, but the primary challenge is to leadership and management to create “mass collaboration that [in turn] gives organizations unique capabilities to create value for customers, employees, and stakeholders.” Without effective leadership and management, initiatives will fail. Those who doubt that are urged to read Morten Hansen’s latest book, Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big. Only through an open and inclusive collaborative process can the use of social media enable any organization to “tap the collective genius” of its stakeholder constituencies

Within 11 chapters and then an Epilogue, Bradley and McDonald provide an abundance of information, insights, and counsel that will help leaders in almost any organization (whatever its size and nature may be) to achieve separate but interdependent strategic objectives that include these:

o Define a compelling vision that inspires and energizes everyone involved
o Formulate a strategy that will guide and inform initiatives that have measurable impact
o Communicate and nourish a clear purpose that everyone supports
o Create or strengthen an environment within which everyone is actively and productively engaged
o Provide enlightened supervision within a structure that nourishes innovative thinking
o Meanwhile, remain flexible and resilient to accommodate change in a timely and effective manner

Bradley and McDonald seem to address all of the “what” involved with achieving these and other objectives. However, their primary focus is really on the “how” and “why” of an immensely complicated process of organizational transformation. The challenges may seem to be the “bad news” but I presume to suggest that there is also “good news.” The open and inclusive collaborative approach that Bradley and McDonald introduce and recommend ensures wide and deep participation of those who possess the talents, skills, and experience needed, both within and outside the given organization; the availability of additional support resources if and when needed; access to the “do’s” and “don’ts” revealed by the real-world experiences of dozens of social organizations discussed in the book; and finally, the approach ensures that the game plan formulated and then implemented is cohesive and comprehensive rather than expedient, fragmented, and inevitably ineffective.

Although there are component segments of valuable counsel inserted in each chapter throughout the lively and eloquent narrative (e.g. “The Three Components of Mass Collaboration” on Page 10-12, “Six Principles of Mass Collaboration” on Pages 12-15, “How a Collaborative Community Works” 0n Pages 16-19, and “New Ways for the Masses to Collaborate” on Pages 19-22″ all in Chapter 2), this is NOT a book to dip in and out of randomly, superficially. As already indicated, Anthony Bradley and Mark McDonald have formulated and now share a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective program that requires close attention, thoughtful consideration, and hopefully rigorous discussion by those who lead the organizational transformation initiatives.

A Great by Choice Glossary

Last Friday, I presented my synopsis of the new Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen book, Great by Choice:  Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All.  It is a great addition to the Jim Collins canon.

Jim Collins is a vocabulary creator.  In his earlier books, he introduced hedgehog circles, and Level 5 Leadership, among other terms.  In this new nook, he continues his tradition.  So here is a Great by Choice glossary, to help you when you run across these terms.

• A Great by Choice Glossary:

1)    10Xers – companies that beat their industry, over the long haul, by at least 10 times
2)    20 Mile March – a set, pre-decided “advance,” on schedule (Learned from the daily goal of Roald Admundsen’s team, which trekked a set, pre-determined distance every day, on their way to the South Pole)
3)    SMaC – Specific; Methodical; and Consistent
4)    Bullets and Cannonballs – Bullets – an empirical test aimed at learning what works, it meets three criteria:  low cost; low risk; low distraction.  Cannonballs:  big cost, big risk, big focus/energy/distraction.
Two kinds:  Callibrated (based on empirical validation)
vs. Uncallibrated (you don’t want many of these!)
5)    The Death Line – the end, with no coming back.  (you don’t want this – “duh!”)
6)    Luck – there’s good luck, there’s bad luck.  And it is in the response to bad luck that the tale is told…  – ROL – Return on Luck. 

 

Great by Choice; The Shallows – two good books for the November First Friday Book Synopsis

The new Jim Collins  and Morten Hansen book, Great by Choice:   Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, and the significant “how is the internet affecting our brains” book, The Shallows, will be our two selections of the November 4 First Friday Book Synopsis.

I will present the synopsis of the new Collins and Hansen book.  When Jim Collins comes out with a new book, it is a big deal.  And this new book, just out, is already generating interest and buzz.  And Karl Krayer will present the synopsis of The Shallows.  This was selected as the title for the Dallas Morning News reading focus this year.  It asks some very serious questions about the impact of the internet on our brains.

These will be valuable and useful presentations.  So, if your schedule is free, come join us on Friday, November 4.  You can reserve your spot through the link on our home page.

And, I will also present a “bonus program,” immediately following our usual event.  This will go from 8:30 to about 9:45.  Prompted by the ongoing financial crisis and uncertainty, I will provide key insights from an array of important and best-selling books:

Is This Time Really Different?
Based on a compilation of the key thoughts about the great financial crisis facing our country and the world,
from a number of best-selling books, including:
That Used to Be Us; Boomerang; This Time Is Different; 
The Great Stagnation; The Big Short; All the Devils are Here, and others

—————-

• Note:  The November First Friday Book Synopsis is sponsored by

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Suggested readings for leadership development in 2011

Awaiting you....

Randy Mayeux has already shared his choices and all are eminently worthy, to which I presume to add a few others.

Please keep in mind that this list is (as are Randy and I) a work in progress.

The Right Values
True North by Bill George and Peter Sims

MY ADDITIONS:
The Executive’s Compass by James O’Toole
The Highest Goal by Michael Ray
The Heart Aroused by David Whyte

The Right Strategy
The Opposable Mind by Roger L. Martin
Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish

MY ADDITIONS:
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Unstoppable by Chris Zook
Enterprise Architecture as Strategy by Jeanne Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson

Effective Leadership
Fierce Leadership by Susan Scott
Encouraging the Heart by James Kouzes and Barry Posner

MY ADDITIONS:
Maestro by Roger Nierenberg
True North by Bill George and Peter Sims

Effective Communication
Words that Work by Frank Luntz
Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

MY ADDITIONS:
Influence by Robert Cialdini
The Back of the Napkin and Unfolding the Napkin by Dan Roam
Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

Functional & Effective Teamwork
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

MY ADDITIONS:
Organizing Genius by Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman
Collaboration by Morten Hansen
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Cultivating Creativity and Innovation
The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson

MY ADDITIONS:
Freedom, Inc. by Brian M. Carney and Isaac Getz
The Idea of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation by Thomas Kelley
Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono
Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind by Guy Claxton

Successful Execution
Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

MY ADDITIONS:
Reality Check by Guy Kawasaki
The Other Side of Innovation by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble
Open Innovation and Open Business Models by Henry Chesbrough

Plus two additional categories:

Leadership Development

MY RECOMMENDATIONS:
Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice co-edited by Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana
The Talent Masters by Bill Conaty and Ram Charan
The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development co-edited by Ellen Van Velsor, Cynthia D. McCauley, and Marian N. Ruderman
Extraordinary Leadership co-edited by Kerry Bunker, Douglas T. Hall, and Kathy E. Kram

Employee Engagement & Talent Management

MY RECOMMENDATIONS:
A Sense of Urgency and Buy-In by John Kotter
The Art of Engagement by Jim Haudan
Engaging the Hearts and Minds of All Your Employees by Lee J. Colan
Growing Great Employees by Erika Andersen

Are Social Media Worth Your Time?

Morten Hansen

Here is an article written by Morten Hansen. To check out other articles and resources and sign up for a free subscription to Harvard Business Daily Alerts, please visit dailyalert@email.harvardbusiness.org.

Are Social Media Worth Your Time?
Morten Hansen

In the latest issue of BusinessWeek, Stephen Baker’s article “Beware Social Media Snake Oil” makes a provocative argument. He claims that all the hype around social networks, wikis, and blogs for business neglects the potential risks and time wasted. While I think he is overstating the argument, he is bringing up a vital question all managers and employees need to ask: What’s the business value of using social media? In my view, there has to be a crystal clear business impact for using these tools.

Consider collaboration inside companies (which differs from using these tools for marketing and PR). The promise of social media, or “enterprise 2.0″ as it is often called, is that employees can become much better at finding information and working together if they use blogs, wikis, social networking, document sharing, Facebook pages, and the like. But are these new activities valuable for a company? Well, that depends. The first obvious issue is that you can spend an awful lot of time on this, and that’s time not spent doing other things, such as finishing your job for the day. So it’s only valuable if the result (e.g., finding good information) justifies the effort (all the hours put into social media). That’s focusing on outputs, not inputs.

Some people miss this point: They think of adoption success in a company as the number of wikis, blogs, tweets, and Facebook pages that people have created and used. In other words, they measure success as the activity level. But that’s the same as saying, “in our company, we have lots of meetings so we must be doing something right.” As enterprise 2.0 expert Oliver Marks told me, “random Twitter and online dialog can be an even more disastrous use of time than endless unfocused meetings.” More is not necessarily better.

There is a bigger problem, however. Social media tools are only useful for some problems. Managers need to ask, do social media tools solve my key challenges? Consider again collaboration inside companies. Why are people in your company not collaborating better? There are potentially many different reasons for this. As I show in my book Collaboration, some barriers to collaboration are motivational — people are unwilling to share information and look for help, perhaps because they see colleagues as rivals or only care about their own performance. Social media tools are just not going to be good at fixing these motivational problems. You need other solutions for this, such as changing the incentive system so that people are rewarded for helping others.

If you blindly focus on investing in social network tools, wikis, and blogs in your company, without solving these motivational problems first, you have just committed a great managerial sin. You have applied the wrong solution to your problems. You have prescribed cough medicine for a broken leg.

We need to be precise and honest about where these new social media tools have great impact, and where they don’t. Then they will be seen as great tools, and we won’t hear the snake oil label anymore.

* * *

Morten T. Hansen is the author of Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results (Harvard Business Press, 2009). He is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and at INSEAD.

To check out other articles and resources, and sign up for a free subscription to Harvard Business Daily Alerts, please visit dailyalert@email.harvardbusiness.org.