2018 is coming. Reviewing our records, I noticed another well-known Fortune 500 companies CEO opened “Take Your Leadership to Level 5 to Achieve a Greater 2017!!” 15 times a few days before he retired. This has become a phenomenon in the past a fewer years– whenever a well-known Fortune 500 companies CEO suddenly reads our newsletters a lot, it usually means the CEO is in “hot water,” and soon would “retire” and disappear. In 2014, Fortune 1000 Company CEO Replacement, Man: Woman = 252:1.
Most Fortune 500 companies CEOs desire to go from Good to Great. While it is not easy to get ahead, it can be harder to stay ahead. When a person achieves more, his or her self- monitoring system often turns loose instead of becoming stronger. The “yes” men and applauds around them usually speed up the decline: some stop updating self and miss new opportunities. Some make unwise investments and lose. Some are trapped in their own “Proxies” and lays of structure and lose velocity. Some become arrogant and abusive towards others and are forced out of office… These happen not only to Fortune 500 companies CEOs, but many others, including a well-known leader in innovation.
Some of these Fortune 500 companies CEOs have made their companies the leader in their industry while others have kept their company the leader. Some have brought their companies to Fortune 500. Some of the Fortune 500 companies CEOs have brought their businesses back to Fortune 10. They could have enjoyed their work more had they refreshed their self-monitoring system on time and stayed updated. They could have continued to make more differences had they built sufficient resilience ahead of time and update others parts (unlike other skills, it is often hard to build resilience during the storm as setbacks and failures can shut down human mind and body).
While some CEOs stop improving themselves, the world never stop changing, and some changes come at an experiential rate. How the 10 most valuable companies change in the U.S. in the past 100 years reflects the worldwide change.
Talent like the Fortune 500 companies CEOs are precious. Fast replacement is not the best way to achieve lasting growth. Instead, business should choose their CEOs with the right tools and support them to build level 5 leadership or enduring greatness. It breaks my heart to see them disappear. What these Fortune 500 companies CEOs need is to strengthen self-monitoring system, build resilience, and update other parts AHEAD OF TIME, which is called “Stay Ahead.” Do those Fortune 500 companies CEOs know the necessity? Yes. However, they think that is someone else’s issue until it is too late. This is a typical “intractable issue” within us. I have been there, too, which is why “stay ahead” is included in the first and last practice classes of our Level 5 leadership curriculum and the book What Stops Leaders from Good to Great.
It is time to evaluate your self-monitoring system, resilience, associated parts, and build Level 5 leadership style to stay ahead. The technology has helped many other executives get ahead and stay ahead. Will the technology help you as well? Try the Mini Leadership Quiz or join the next webinar.
I love to hear your feedback. Please share the lesson from the Fortune 500 companies CEOs with your friends.
About the Author Bin Yang is a global CEO adviser, Dr. Leadership, and the Managing Director of The Prince Synergy (www.theprincesynergy.com), a leading consulting firm that focuses on building exceptional leaders and optimizing top team performance, and solves the hardest issues that no one else can. She authored What Stop Leaders from Good to Great, Take Your Leadership to Level Five. For more information or to schedule an interview, lecture or appointment, please contact us at 310-668-1828.
Los Angeles, CA Dec. 4th, 2014– The Prince Synergy (www.ThePrinceSynergy.com) announces its latest studies on CEO Replacement at Fortune 1000 Companies in 2014. Among 253 Fortune 1000 Companies CEO replacements, man: woman= 252:1. The departure rate for men is 252/947=26.61% and women 1/53=1.87%. The most common placement is departure. Women held 46 CEO positions at Fortune 1000 in 2013 and 53 in 2014.
When asked the significance of the studies, Bin Yang, the Managing Director at The Prince Synergy, said, “Fast CEO Replacement is inefficient for Fortune 1000 Companies to achieve lasting growth. Today’s technologies can anticipate development needs, seed of early decline and others long before 360 degree. Instead, businesses should choose the right CEOs with the right tools and empower their CEOs to take charge of strategy execution, speed, and costs, which is win-win.”
The top priorities for CEO are to keep their vision and power up-to-date, so they can react to shocks and capture opportunities efficiently. And the first step is to stay open. However, only 17.92% of the replaced group opens The Prince Synergy newsletters while 63.89% of women CEOs do. Some Fortune 1000 Companies CEOs rely on their executive assistants who delete every mail. Compared to men, women Fortune 1000 Companies CEOs tend to carry more loads and meet higher standards at work and in life.
About 30-40% of intractable business issues are due to traditional IQ, EQ or behavior approaches because each person has 6Q. CEOs can leverage their human capital more efficiently with the right tools, for example, how to maximize leadership efficiency, manage conflicts, use the right people, and build smart systems. The latest tools utilize the 6Q multi-tasking talent model and the 6Q Approach. As competitions intensify, vision, speed and results determine the rise and fall of the Fortune 1000 Companies CEOs and businesses.
The Prince Synergy (www.theprincesynergy.com) is a leading consulting firm that takes leadership from good to great and solve the hardest issues that no one else can. We help leaders build long-term social and economic value in the world with increasing uncertainty and complexity. For more info, or to schedule an interview, lecture, or appointment, please contact press@theprincesynergy.com, or 310-668-1828.
Do you have the right tools to meet challenges and stay ahead of changes? Take a short Leadership Tool Quiz.
Not every leader and elite has what they “should.” The article will explore PwC CEO Study and use how to focus on the big picture and focus on the long term as an example to demonstrate how to be a CEO and go from good to great efficiently. A webinar and a mini assessment are available for hands-on experiences.
Recently, PwC released its 2016 CEO study–17 years CEO succession analysis at the world’s largest 2,500 public companies. It is sad to see such a high CEO replacement number, especially the increase in CEO dismissals for ethical lapses from 3.9% in 2007-2011 to 5.3% in 2012-2016—a 36% increase.
Do more CEOs lack integrity? Not likely. Media spread is one issue. Unable to take early action is another. In fact, we can reduce the second cause by catching many development needs of CEOs before “the 360-degree evaluation.” When CEOs can take early action, businesses can also achieve more via management continuity, which is what we have found in our 2014 Fortune 1000 CEO study.
Traditional approaches are mainly behavior summary plus IQ and EQ tools. However, each person is an integrated 6Q system, and IQ and EQ issues can have non-IQ and non-EQ causes. Behaviors can reflect the underlying 6Q structure, but cannot make it. Without knowing the rest of the system, it is hard to get to the root causes, anticipate the development needs, and take the right action. Some leaders are genius in reading people. They are the exceptions here.. Know Yourself Ahead
Many executives desire go from good to great, develop level five leadership or become an exceptional CEO. To know self is the first step. By evaluating 6Q, CEOs can know themselves deeper, broader and take effective action.
The first two items define if the CEO can be good. The rest determine if they can be great, to build enduring greatness, develop level five leadership, or become an exceptional CEO. These are an executive’s baseline. Once the goal is clear, we can anticipate or valuate the gaps (development needs of a leader) and potential issues, solutions, alternatives, costs, etc.
Each step involves many underground works. To focus on the big picture and focus on the long term is the first step to how to be a CEO, go from good to great, and develop level five leadership. Let’s explore what can cause CEOs to “miss the big picture” and how to manage efficiently. ————————————————————————— How do you do in key areas? Let’s take a quick assessment. —————————————————————————
1. Focus on the Big Picture, Focus on the Long Term
How well a person can focus on the big picture and focus on the long term is determined by its structure, execution, sustainability and more.
– Have a Good Structure
Franklin Roosevelt and Steve Job were leaders in their fields. Could they switch industries? Most people can understand the technical foundation, such as talent type, knowledge base, experiences, and decision-making, but miss another piece.
A healthy Ego is critical for leaders not to hunger for applauding and make independent decisions that may take years to get results, for example, Franklin Roosevelt in the World War II. A person with a healthy Ego has no problems to admit his or her errors and learn from the mistakes. A healthy Ego is also necessary for leaders to be fair to others and win hearts and minds. Without a healthy Ego, executives may be able to tell an ass kisser from a praiser and know what is right for the enterprise but still choose the ass kisser to satisfy their Ego. Some may think they can steal, rob and destroy their competitors and then silence the competitors with threats. In fact, these people are digging a grave for their Day One!! Humility is only one reflection of a healthy Ego.
By knowing their talent type, knowledge base, and experiences, leaders can choose their right direction and action. By strengthening the health of their Ego, leaders can develop many positive behaviors while eliminating negative ones and focus on the big picture naturally. “Missing the big picture” is only a behavior or a result, not the root causes. However, many institutions waste their time on secondary behaviors.
A right structure is only basic. As time passes, CEOs can succeed and fail, which can inflate or deflate leaders’ Ego. Some executives can over estimate self, disrespect others, and make unwise investments. Some think they can steal, rob, destroy and then silence competitors. In fact, these people are digging a grave for their Day One!! Some can become depressive, lose work efficiency, and leave a job undone. Other events can challenge executives as well. For example, Peter Drucker was so sad after he lost his mother that he did not return his clients’ call. Later it took him 3 years to get those clients back.
In the meantime, as disruptions and changes can come from all directions at an exponential rate, new challenges can exceed CEOs’ current capacity or disable then. Then issues that can impact their learning or adjustment will step in, for example, talent type, personal interest, knowledge base, resources, etc. Setbacks and failures can shut down leaders’ mind and body.
Sustainability is essential for a CEO to go from good to great and develop level five leadership. Resilience is also needed for daily negotiation, innovation, etc. By knowing self ahead, CEOs can take custom training and save time and effort. To be cool in the storm also makes great bosses unforgettable. Unfortunately, many Fortune 500 CEOs only think of us when they are in “hot water,” which is heartbreaking to me.
– Strategy, Innovation & More Can the institutional focus, industrial insights, and resilience guarantee success? Not always. Japanese are well-known for the three. Still, many of them fail since they do not compete with strategy but imitate one another and cut down their own profit. How Japanese compete has a lot to do with their culture that encourages obedience and loyalty, not autonomy and innovation.
On the other hand, the same culture system also builds a broad knowledge foundation that Western Culture fails to do. By knowing an executive deeply, we can evaluate the negative impact of their culture, identify the missing segments of their innovation and strategy, and maximize their success.
2. The Other Steps
To focus on the big picture and focus on the long term is only the first step to how to be a CEO, go from good to great, or develop level five leadership. To convert their vision into effective action, team performance management is essential. In the past 3 years, we have studied what fails leadership development and stops leaders from developing level five leadership among fortune 1000 companies and other large institutions. Many CEOs and executives show the following leadership development needs:
Most of the above require more than IQ and EQ to handle. Unfortunately, most leadership development programs mainly offer IQ and EQ tools, and some programs focus on secondary behaviors.
Speed and Results Matter!
Not every leader has what they “should.” However, they can still go from good to great if they can identify their “missing software” and take early action or the right action. By getting to the root causes with the right tools, we often can be at least 50% faster that others, which have saved many dreams.
“Can He Handle the Job” is a good example. An executive at leadership consulting firm was promoted to a regional manager and almost resigned 2 months later because of business and family crises. The Assessment found that he had too many development needs of a leader that to fulfill at that time. Thus, I chose to improve his emotional expression to eliminate his family crisis so that he could focus on his new job. He did, through a 30-minute learning, which saved his job and the region.
How to be a CEO is the beginning. The sooner the CEO knows “How to Be an Exceptional CEO,” the better the person can prepare self for lasting growth with the right tools instead of IQ, EQ and behavior tools alone that McKinsey and others use. “Should a CEO be Charming” is another challenge on the journey of how to be a CEO.
Catch Development Needs before 360 Degree Evaluation
The 360-Degree Evaluation is a great tool to closes the gaps between individual self-awareness and objective reality. The observation starts AFTER someone gets on the spot. However, what is on the surface is not equal to the root causes and the issues beneath, not to mention those that will emerge in new environments.
The Executive 6Q Assessment is designed to catch the development needs of a leader at different stages, like MRI, recommend action accordingly, and make learning easy and fast. We evaluate every talent element even they are “insignificant” today. By knowing self well ahead, CEOs can be ready for the future, be highly effective in turbulence, and hopefully, develop level five leadership. When CEOs can go from good to great, businesses and society can also achieve more through management continuity, which is why we are enthusiastic about how to be a CEO and build level five leadership.
Furthermore, because the 6Q data is good for two years in the absence of significant events, we can assist executives with their next challenge thousands of miles away. Will there be gaps between anticipation and reality? Yes, no one can anticipate everything in the world no matter how hard they try. Thus, the two assessments can be a great synergy.
PwC CEO study reviews that CEOs face increasing complexity, uncertainty and storm. Although not every leader has what they “should,” today is not their tomorrow as they can develop what is needed. This is why today’ direction and power cannot define a good leader and a great one; without the right underlying structure, today’s glory cannot last
On the other hand, no one is designed for every challenge, and not all issues have fast solution. Thus, it is critical to know CEOs’ all 6Q instead of IQ, EQ and behavior alone ahead of time, and take early action, from the focus on the big picture, focus on the long term, to team performance management. When CEOs can go from good to great, businesses will also get to the next level, and society can also prosper.
In the meantime, a leader should not just focus on how to be a CEO, but how to be an exceptional CEO. The sooner the leader know the gap, the better the leader can prepare self for lasting growth with the right tools instead of IQ, EQ and behavior tools alone. That is what set us apart from McKinsey and others. How to be a CEO is about not only a CEO, but also a team and a society that a company serves. To build great CEOs is one of our efficient ways to bring productivity and happiness to the world, which is our mission and vision.
About the Author
Bin Yang is a global CEO adviser and the Managing Director of The Prince Synergy, a leading consulting firm that focuses on building exceptional leaders to strengthen society. She authored What Stop Leaders from Good to Great,” Go from Good to Great Efficiently. If you’d like to learn how to empower yourself beyond IQ and EQ, consider reading the life stories in the book. Webinars, free mini assessments and group and individual solutions are also available. For more information or to schedule an interview, lecture, or appointment, please contact 310-668-1828.
It may not be hard to tell the difference but can be difficult to choose the right one. The answer reflects the health of a leader’s Ego that can affect many aspects of his or her leadership— vision, image, power, stability, etc. To take leadership to Level 5, it is essential for leaders to focus on the big picture than personal benefits, so they can make independent decision, open to new ideas, be fair to others, etc. Jim Colin’s humility reflects of a healthy Ego that can make the focus nature. It wastes time work on secondary behaviors.
On the other hand, it challenges many leaders to tell an ass kisser from a praiser or know talent at a personal level, not to mention to utilize an ass kisser. The Executive 6Q Assessment helps leaders scan their development needs and use the right people.
Parents are often the primary impact- the victims are usually unfavorable children or those overloaded with stringent standards. To these parents, the children are never good enough, which weakens the health of their Ego. Child neglect and abuse have the worse impact. Primary caregivers are usually the next significant impact. England King George VI’s stuttering had a lot to do with how his nanny mistreated him when he was little. The rest are various people at society, such as teachers, schoolmates, bosses, colleagues, etc.
Victims can withdraw from society, like the King George V. Victims can also look for approvals, be eager to tell the world how smart they are, or abuse others, which will destroy their vision, image and power. Victims may also think that they can steal, rob and silence their competitors as they can do ANYTHING. When a leader is eager to look for approvals, ass kissing is more musical than praise. The business empire will fall even faster.
By restoring the health of their Ego, many negative behaviors can go away quickly since they are secondary. It usually takes a deep commitment and weeks to months with the right tools. Behaviors reflect an injured Ego; therefore, it can be painful and slow to “better” the reflection. Does every Ego have a quick solution? We do not take cases that involve ethics and abuse.
Leaders usually have other needs, for example, innovation, leadership styles, conflict management, resilience development and other performance management, to further strengthen the health of their Ego.
To use the right people is the first step to success. An ass kisser can still serve certain purposes if management is setup right. The background check and track records are necessary. However, they cannot anticipate the future performance, which is the to determine if the person can do the job. To do so, leaders need not only assess individual current capacities, but also their level, performance and potential under different weather. “Honesty and self-awareness” that Psychology or behavior tests rely on usually do not apply to an ass kisser. Here is the comparison between the 6Q Whole System Approach and partial ones.
The world is changing fast. The more leaders can anticipate, the better leaders can use the right people. Although gut feeling is good, the leadership and performance MRI provides scientific evidences and therefore is more reliable. We help leaders see more, see far, and win big.
Discussion Does Level 5 Leadership development tie leaders with high standards? No, only the right ones, and learning and development is as nature, healthy and easy as possible. Behavior and EQ alone cannot solve all issues, for example: 1. Unwise investments. 2. Use a wrong person. 3. Setbacks and failures. 4. Poor health.
It takes the right tools to empower leaders from good to great and build Level 5 leaders. Let’s find the extra tools you need! The Prince Synergy Team
Conflict management for leaders is essential to leadership success because conflicts are inevitable as long as strategic shifts and structural changes are necessary. How to manage conflicts has challenged many leaders. Recently, a CEO wanted to improve his conflict management and was particularly interested in deep human knowledge.
Are people skills alone sufficient conflict management for leaders? NO, because many conflicts are self-induced. The Executive 6Q Assessment found that the CEO needed several puzzles– vision, innovation, deep knowledge of talent, etc. One issue was that he could easily lose temper over low-grade errors. Looking back, he has been at the top of his class from elementary to MBA.
Optimize Conflict Management with the Right Tools Should we modify his behavior or ask him to consolidate with others publicly? No, instead I told him one story.
I acted like him until I suffered from Traumatic Brain Injury due to an auto-accident. In the beginning of my recovery, my cognitive ability was about elementary school level. I could be easily frightened when I walked on the street since I did not know what to do, so I had to hold my father’s hand. Gradually, my cognitive ability came back, so did my confidence. One day, I was no longer afraid. Even since, I have learned to be empathetic with those who commit mistakes—they do not want that happen, either- and in the meantime, inspire them to learn from their mistakes and grow.
The CEO thanked me for sharing my story. He has faced the same conflicts fewer and fewer each day.
Like EQ and behavior alone cannot build a Level 5 leader, the key to improve conflict management is to evaluate leaders’ underlying structure, choose the right follow-up strategies, models, practice classes, and not to waste time on the secondary behaviors. Self-discovery is important but not always efficient. Public consolidation with others often come with unnecessary humiliation and resistance, which can slow down the problem solving. Existing 360° assessment results are helpful, and there is no need to repeat the assessment since it mainly collect observation, not the root causes. Most training on conflict management for leaders can be done in an efficient and comfortable way, such as listening to a story like the above CEO.
How to Optimize Conflict Management for Leaders Efficiently?
There are two kinds of conflicts—self-induced and environment related. Is it easier to improve self or change others? A great leader needs both.
A leader’s fairness comes first. Otherwise, conflicts can emerge anywhere if the leader tries to disregard others’ benefit, take advantage of others or play personal favor since no many people are stupid. What comes the next is leaders’ vision, Ego, innovation, leadership styles, legal sense, structure making, resilience, etc. Why? Most people would rather tolerate a leader’s people skills if the leader can see far, take right action, and be fair.
Many leaders do not know their talent deep enough, which affects how they task talent, execute their strategies, and prevent conflicts. The lack of deep knowledge of their talent has a lot to do with the leadership and talent development history– most institutions focus on IQ, EQ, and LQ but fail to know the other half of the human system.
In addition to taking the right action, leaders can win hearts easily in daily work through mental and health management.
Different root cause require different solutions, which can be diagnosed first. Usually, the Good to Great Leadership CLASS 1 minimizes self-induced conflicts; CLASS 2 deepens leaders’ talent knowledge, leadership styles and conflict management skills; and X-Class helps to win more hearts and save more human capital. Clients can start to see results in days to weeks like the CEO did in the case above. No need to worry if someone has had too many complaints. In fact, the change can be more impressive than others’. And we will help to magnify the change elegantly.
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About the Author Bin Yang is the author of What Stop Leaders from Good to Great, and the Managing Director of The Prince Synergy (www.theprincesynergy.com), a leading consulting firm that explores missing tools in leadership and success, and solves the hardest issues that no one else can.
If you’d like to learn how to be a great leader and enhance your 6Q instead of IQ and EQ alone, consider reading the life stories in the book and trying the mini quiz. The webinars are also available for hands-on experiences. The Prince Synergy customizes most of its classes and programs based on the Executive 6Q Assessment results. For more information or to schedule an interview, lecture, or appointment, please contact 310-668-1828.
Recently, the World Economic Forum reported global growth distribution. To many people’s surprise– the US is second, and China is the number one! How do you feel? How does the fact impact your business and strategy?
I remembered one day in 1996; one instructor suddenly told the whole class that China was a butter-flyer– although it waved its wings vigorously, it had no impact on the world. Instantly, every class mate turned around to look at me since I was the only Chinese there.
After the class, I asked the teacher why she said so. She felt a little embarrassed and said, “You can call the US a butter-flyer as well.” I disagreed. Instead, I asked her, “Why do you think that the US cannot punish China now?” She could not answer. I told her, “Because the US has a lot of business in China; therefore, punishing China would backfire its economy.” The teacher was astonished, and I continued, “Every country in the world is on a chain; therefore, the change of one country would impact the rest.” The teacher was speechless.
Today, every country in the world is still in the same chain. The change of one country still will impact the rest. The resource, market, talent, and governmental system in the Eastern and Western world still have their pros and cons although some elements have changed. It is essential to see far, optimize innovation, make wise investments, and keep lasting growth.
Everyone can be “an underdog” sometimes. The winning philosophy is simple– If a Big Man Scores 80-90, You Score 110-150, and there is a way! Your leadership and top team performance are the key to your success.
Achieve more in 2018!
About the Author:
Bin Yang, Managing Director at The Prince Synergy Los Angeles, 310-668-1828
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