Mental health has become a top priority to businesses and society since the pandemic. Mental health management is a part of our Level 5 leadership development as it is a quick way for leaders to know their team, lead better, win hearts and minds, and achieve their goal better.
A few years ago, Ben Congleton, CEO of Olark, encouraged his web developer Madalyn Parker to take 2 days off for her mental health. It went viral after Ms. Parker shared the experience at twitter. That also implied that the mental health has not been taken care properly. Leaders should be able to recognize common and complex mental issues and take proper actions.
What Makes Mental Health Issues Complex?
When they have complex root causes of behaviors, come with health issues, including psychiatric components, or are on their way. These are often beyond management personnel’s scope but can be better taken care if management personnel know how to give initial support and help team members get to the right direction. Employees’ mental health issues are often secondary and have better chances to recover if we can get to their root causes.
What Limit Traditional Approaches?
What Makes Us Different?
How Will We Help You?
We work on individuals and their environments.
We help management personnel understand the needs of mental health management at workplace, take the right approach over common and complex issues, and be a role model to build a mentally healthy work environment. We enable individuals to know self, strengthen and restore their physical and mental health efficiently if needed.
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The Prince Synergy Team Los Angeles, 310-668-1828
A big part of leadership is change management. Usually, it is easy to see the needs of changes but hard to lead changes or make changes efficiently because people often are afraid of changes and resist changes.Recently, I received an email about NeuroLeadership. I enjoy their neuro explanation on how to change efficiently—changes often cause pain that can impede changes, so it is better to generate internal brain change via attention and insight. Behaviorism doesn’t work in the long run as it can worsen the pain, which is opposite to what we do– get around resistances and make learning easy and fast. Leaders can change faster and better if they can assist instead of supporting their team in working out solutions on their own.
Let me tell you a story.My first residency was Neuro-Psychiatry. Before that, I joined a brain study at a Neurosurgery dept whose chairman was well-known. One day, he was frustrated since the leading research center sent out a memo that they would not reimburse the cost that did not meet their criteria. Research equipment can run out of a department’s budget quickly. The best way to avoid the conflict is to get permissions before any future purchases. Instead of telling him directly, I asked the chairman, “Can we ask for their permission first?” The chairman got the idea instantly and felt relieved. I could help the chairman change efficiently because I knew what he needed, had his full attention, made his learning easy and fast, and let him reach to the conclusion on his own. although I worked at the Neurosurgery dept for less than one year, the chairmen wrote me a long and strong letter of recommendation, which he usually did not do for the residents who worked there for five years. His letter helped to open bigger doors for me later. Here is Another Story:
Many people have been impressed that I could help a business owner with Traumatic Brain Injury stop yelling at the doctors and nurses in the ER to vent his stress in about 10 minutes. In addition to getting to the root cause of his behavior, I had the same rest steps– I shared with the business owner my challenges and success, asked him to compare his situations and mine, so he reached to the conclusion on his own— “if she could make it, so can I.” Read more...
The Key to Fast and Lasting Change ManagementIt often takes individuals a long time to work out solutions on their own even they focus on the project. Outside assistance can make a big difference in the speed and results of their change management. I know this because I have been there. Complex issues often involve more than traditional IQ and EQ. Behavior tools cannot solve the rest issues as behaviors mainly reflect their underlying structures instead of changing the structures.
The keys to fast and lasting change management are to be on the right track, get around the resistances, get to the root causes of behaviors and make learning easy and fast. Today, many development needs, including communication skills, can be identified through the 6Q Assessment, associated learning can be easy, fast and customized.
Are You Leading Changes Efficiently?
Do you think your team will adapt to the change if someone can give them some hints? Do you believe that they will change better if someone can make their learning easy and fast? Would it be great if the someone is you?Contact us with your needs. Most of our programs facilitate changes. Most likely, one of them can help you lead change efficiently.
About the AuthorBin Yang is a global Executive Adviser and the Managing Director of The Prince Synergy (www.theprincesynergy.com), a leading consulting firm that focuses on building exceptional leaders and performance management systems and reducing healthcare costs. She is also the author of “What Stops Leaders from Good to Great.” For more information or to schedule an interview, lecture or appointment, please contact us at 310-668-1828.
Of course! A CEO needs to be charming as conflicts are inevitable in leadership and daily management. Otherwise, he or she cannot execute his or her vision and strategies if his or her leadership cannot be adequately perceived. In addition, his or her career can be in jeopardy, whether the person is a national leader or the head of a Fortune 500 company. There were 253 Fortune 1000 CEO Replacements in 2014, Man: Woman = 252:1, some of which were due to poor conflict management.
Case Study: A CEO almost lost his job because of the conflicts with his team and his public image. Nevertheless, he became charming in less than 3 months since we identified his “missing software” and installed it smoothly through the 6Q Approach. Read more…
Recently, another issue emerges– How to Win Hearts and Minds?
A CEO spent several months annually visiting his global offices since he found eye to eye and belly to belly was the most efficient way to communicate. I agree with him except he could spend a whole year visiting offices if his company got bigger than today since he only had 24 hours a day.
As a company grows, leaders have to win hearts and minds through management team building and system designing, and in the meantime, be charming. The management team building should start with the right people instead of the best training. The system should be multi-tasking instead of singular as all steps are somehow connected. These often are not hard to achieve if we can go beyond IQ, EQ and behavior approach and identify the “missing software.” The differences can be more significant with more steps involved, for example,
0.9 x 0.9 x 0.9 x 0.9 x 0.9 x 0.9 =0.53144 << 1
On the other hand, it is more critical to be charming and win hearts and minds during tough time, for example, mass lay-offs due to Automation. McKinsey research suggested about 15% of current work could be automated by 2030, which can potentially impact nearly 800 million workers globally. While mass lay-offs can save companies massive costs, they can also create greater inequality and “massive disruption.” It is wise for companies to re-skill or redeploy their existing workforce if possible instead of simply discarding them. A lot of time, money, headaches, and tears can be saved if we can anticipate existing workforce’s development needs before “the 360-degree evaluation” and make their learning easy and fast.
Empathy, communication, conflict management and public image are fundamental to a CEO’s charisma. In addition to people skills, a CEO also needs vision, dignity, problem-solving, etc. to win hearts and minds, especially during the storm. Because a leader’s charisma optimizes his or her leadership efficiency, a part of our Level 5 leadership development is to help leaders be charming and win hearts and minds. What makes a CEO charming? Here are some examples:
Regarding management team building and other aspects, please visit 8 Dimensions of How to Be a CEO.
How to Be Charming, Win Hearts and Minds Efficiently? Different leaders have different kinds of charisma. There is no fixed format. We empower leader(s), team(s) and system(s) according to their development needs today and tomorrow. For more information, please click here.
As the talent war, competition, change, and disruption intensify, how a CEO stays charming and wins hearts and minds has become increasingly important. As the new storm is coming, such as the “massive workforce disruption” or massive lay-offs due to Automation, a CEO’s Vision, Power, Humility and Will matter more than before. These rules apply to all other leaders.
You can take a mini leadership assessment to see how you are doing. Many businesses and leaders have development needs at personal, interpersonal or institutional levels. Usually, it is not hard to improve if we can identify the “missing software.” Contact us with your issue even if it is impossible to anyone else.
About the Author Bin Yang is the Managing Director of The Prince Synergy (www.theprincesynergy.com), a leading consulting firm that focuses on building exceptional leaders to strengthen society and solves the hardest issues in leadership and performance that no one else can. She is also the author of Identify Your “Missing Software,” Go from Good to Great Efficiently. For more information or to schedule an interview, lecture or appointment, please contact us at 310-668-1828.
(The press has appeared on Business Insider, Market Watch, PR Newswire and other media.)
LOS ANGELES, Oct 10, 2017– The Prince Synergy (www.ThePrinceSynergy.com) announces that they open its leadership practice and programs internationally to minimize “intractable issues” in leadership and top team performance worldwide.
When asked the significance of the plan, Bin Yang, the Managing Director at The Prince Synergy, said, “Many people are so used to ‘Intractable Issues’ in leadership & top team performance that they stop questioning the fundamental or looking for solutions. Issues at the top are often complex, involving individuals’ whole 6Q system. Technology (IQ), psychometric (EQ), and behavior tools alone can make complex issues ‘intractable,’ which is why only 13% of companies can build effective global leaders. Through the 6Q Approach, we can be 10 x faster and find efficient solutions to many ‘intractable issues.’ In addition, learning needs to be integrated with practices since workplace practices are not available to everyone and are often inconsistent.”
The Prince Synergy focus on building level 5 leaders, exceptional CEOs, and optimizing top team performance since it is the most efficient way to empower millions at one time. The Prince Synergy’s programs and classes are designed to target the compound challenges along the leadership journey, including those that no one else can, for example, how to know talent deeply, manage conflicts, and build resilience.
Unlike others, The Prince Synergy assesses the root causes of development needs instead of analyzing behaviors as different root causes can have the same behavior. In addition, The Prince Synergy emphasize on catching development needs before the “360-degree assessment” and taking early actions. Ms. Bin Yang first invented the 6Q approach to recover herself from Traumatic Brain Injury and then helped many patients meet challenges and stay healthy. The holistic approach bases its interventions on business, law, medicine, psychology, and evaluates the whole 6Q system simultaneously to identify the root causes and make learning easy and fast.
The Prince Synergy chooses solutions through assessments and diagnoses. It has programs to take leadership from good to great, manage conflicts, multiply leadership styles, and pursue organizational benefit efficiently. It also has programs to improve leadership skills and performance in days to weeks or target other unique needs. Some clients are highly interested in its practice classes since workplace practices are unavailable to everyone or do not have the piece they need consistently.
The Prince Synergy’s video, “Join Us, Minimize the ‘Intractable Issues’ in Leadership & Top Team Performance!” can be found on Youtube (https://youtu.be/E1BjvALU1QA), and book “What Stops Leaders from Good to Great?” is available on Amazon.
About The Prince Synergy:
The Prince Synergy (www.theprincesynergy.com) is a leading consulting firm that focuses on building exceptional leaders and CEOs and optimizing top team performance to strengthen society, and that hs solved many hard issues that no one else can.
Media Contact: For more info, or to schedule an interview, lecture, or appointment, please contact Judith Sullivan, press@theprincesynergy.com, or 310-668-1828.
Jim Collins introduced “Level 5 Leadership” as a powerful way to take a company from Good to Great and characterized the highest level of leadership as HUMILITY + WILL. Both HUMILITY and WILL are behaviors, which exist at the surface of Level 5 leadership. Many institutions try to build Level five leadership through either behavioral modification or EQ training, both of which are psychological tools. Do internal structures matter in Level five leadership building? Can one tool solve all problems? These principles apply to both leaders and talent. Beneath the surface of HUMILITY + WILL lie a healthy Ego, a deep understanding of life, a big dream, extraordinary abilities and other integrated internal structures. Individuals with a healthy Ego typically accept themselves, can focus on the big picture, and have no need to seek satisfaction through pathological behaviors that will backfire later. Humility reflects a healthy Ego but is NOT the only reflection. Those who understand that success requires the right time, the right place and hard-working can easily understand and respect others. These individuals can direct their energy efficiently to pursue their big dream. Extraordinary abilities combined with other characteristics will increase their chances of success. In fact, many leaders who are great public speakers and somewhat self-centered also share these great features, for example, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Behavior Approach is a great tool for leadership development, but like any other tool it has its limits and cannot solve every underlying problem. For example, individuals can be HUMBLE because of a weak Ego, which stems from unsuccessful bids to gain parental approval during childhood. The parents are usually busy or are indifferent to the child. Behavior therapy can enhance their HUMILITY, but cannot build the powerful WILL needed to overcome various hurdles. However, with the right tools, it takes only days to help individuals stop seeking parental approval. It is better to identify the underlying cause(s) and target the issues precisely to achieve fast and lasting results.
In addition to a healthy Ego, WILL is closely linked to confidence that is built on vision, knowledge, learning, resources, health, and more. When confidence wanes, WILL will be threatened. For example, a young business owner suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury and became extremely frustrated by the necessity to re-learn EVERYTHING. He often called 911 as his stress management tool. Once transported to the Emergency Room (ER), he yelled at the doctors and nurses there. I recovered myself from TBI via a similar path and was doing a residency rotation in the ER the day when this young man came in. I understood his frustration, so I walked to him, discussed with him his progress and offered my own real life success in overcoming the challenges associated with TBI. He thanked me in the end, and the ER nurses later told me that his ER visit that day was his shortest and most pleasant, and he never came back again.
Business is rife with unexpected challenges, setbacks, and uncertainty, all of which can be more stressful than the challenges the above business owner has faced. Both HUMILITY and WILL can reflect the underlying structure and mainly belong to Emotional Quotient (EQ), an essential component of leadership. Those who act rashly under stress or uncertainty often have high EQs. To stay focused, individuals need the right tools to meet challenges, manage stress and handle setbacks and failures. One powerful tool is to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, either through their own resources or outside experts, which requires more than EQ.
Underestimated for decades, EQ is now overestimated, as if it is the only factor that matters in leadership development. In fact, many factors can affect EQ, either positively or negatively. Why? Each person is an integrated system of abilities, health, and their relationships with themselves and society. Each person is an integrated system of 6 Quotients that determine their directions and actions (Intelligent Q), help them stay updated (Learning Q), govern relationships with others (Emotional Q), maximize their results in society (Public influence Q), remain resilient in the face of adversity (AQ) and keep their energy level (Health Q). EQ is only a part of the integrated system, and, therefore, issues can come from IQ, LQ, PQ, AQ or HQ over which EQ or behavior has little or no power. How the young business owner acted before and after his last ER visit is a good example.
It takes great industrial or cross-industrial knowledge and instinct (IQ) to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It takes tenacity, problem-solving skills, learning, energy (AQ, IQ, LQ, and HQ) and more to see the light when facing setbacks and failures. Because he and other ER doctors were not sufficiently familiar with Traumatic Brain Injury recovery, the young business owner couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. As time passed, his EQ became vulnerable. It is due to this same mechanism that some former high achievers develop “Learned Depression” after a series of failures. However, the business owner did not stay at home, depressed. He called 911 to go to the ER where I happened to be, and he regained his EQ power once I helped him see the light at the end of the tunnel. EQ can help an individual see the light and maximize resources and market share; however, EQ alone is usually not enough. Can Behavior Modification help him? No, because behavior approach cannot address root causes.
The internal structures of Level 5 leadership include a healthy ego that facilitates self-acceptance and the focus on the big picture, a deep understanding of human nature that fosters respect for others, a big dream that focuses energy, extraordinary abilities and more to leverage full power, maximize results and bounce back from adversity. Individuals with Level 5 leadership style often can see the light at the end of the tunnel when facing with uncertainty, either leveraging their own or external resources, so they have a strong WILL. They do not waste energy because of their healthy egos and a deep understanding of human nature (HUMILITY). People with Level 5 leadership style not only choose the right successor, but also use right people and create positive environments within their companies and society. As a result, they maximize their results and save even more energy. Individuals with Level five leadership are open to new ideas and new technologies, so they can stay on the right track and spend their energy and money more and more efficiently.
To develop Level 5 leadership style, individuals need not only key elements, but EVERY element to maintain internal stability and optimal performance. What sustains their stability and optimal condition can change as their environments change. Unfortunately, it only takes ONE element in one single process to break the whole system. The above young business owner is a good example. Weaknesses can be poor blind spot management of decision-making, under-utilization of new technology, poor reactions to adversity, etc. The insufficient elements may not affect their performance management today, but can be significant enough to impede them tomorrow when the environment changes. This is why we need to catch the development needs of a leader before “the 360 Degree evaluation” to Go from Good to Great and Optimize Top Team Performance Efficiently. “Can He Handle the Job?” is a good example of developmental needs that are insignificant today but significant tomorrow. “All-in” intensity does not surface until individuals have to face all issues related to an organization on a daily base. Those who die of stress-related health issues, such as heart disease, stroke, and suicide, are good examples of individuals who ultimately pay the price for matters that seem insignificant now but have a cumulative impact. Consequently, it is important to anticipate the development needs of a leader in the face of change and target the needs precisely with the right tools. If leaders can maintain optimal performance, it will obviously have a positive impact on business, people around them, and personal potentials for success.
It is inefficient to build Level five leadership by copying some behaviors or one “surface,” because, ultimately, the individual’s internal structure determines their behavior and psychological response. No one tool can address all issues. Emotion and behavior are only a part of the human integrated system of abilities, health, and relationships with the self and society. In addition, emotional training and behavioral approach have limited power over complex issues with non-psychological or non-behavior root causes, such as abilities and health, which can create “intractable issues” and add months or years to the time to achieve results. The right approach is to look into all elements, get to the underlying causes, identify the “missing software,” and target issues with the right tools.
Unlike computers, human capacity can fluctuate under change and storm, which involves adversity Q, health Q, and public influence Q besides IQ, EQ, and learning Q. Behaviors can reflect the 6Q structural change but have limited power to change the 6Q system. By getting to the root causes, we can anticipate development needs of a leader before “the 360-Degree Evaluation” and take wise action. By addressing the underlying causes with the right tools and installing “missing software” smoothly, leaders often begin to show results in days to weeks instead of months to years. One of the best ways to speed up the Level five leadership development process is to act as if you already possess the qualities you want to develop.
Do you want to build Level 5 leadership style, become a level 5 leader or be an exceptional CEO? Do you desire to lead with a smart system and optimize your team performance efficiently? Do you long to take your company from good to great? Join our next webinar or try the Mini Leadership Assessment. You need to work on your surface as well as your internal structure and unlock yourself from What Stop Leaders from Good to Great,
About the Author
Bin Yang is a global Executive Adviser and the Managing Director of The Prince Synergy (www.theprincesynergy.com), a leading consulting firm that focuses on building exceptional leaders and performance management systems and reducing healthcare costs. She is also the author of “What Stops Leaders from Good to Great.” For more information or to schedule an interview, lecture or appointment, please contact us at 310-668-1828.
Organizations always need great leaders who can identify emerging challenges, inspire their team, and turn strategy into effective action. The needs only have been intensifying as changes come at an exponential speed. A 2016 Deloitte survey found that only 13% of companies believe they are building effective global leaders
Other firms have several suggestions on top team performance– focus on the shifts that matter, provide continuous leadership development, simplify formula, etc. Should we just concentrate on the shifts that matter? Should institution baby sit leaders? Can one method fix all issues? The answer is NO.
The Root Causes of Poor Corporate Leadership Development
The main root cause is partial approach– lack of knowledge of the whole human structure and use behavior tools as a short cut. Unfortunately, behaviors often are not their root causes.
Leaders require different tools to meet challenges in various environments at different stages. The daily skills include how to communicate and take feedback. Others can be sleep, learning, business law utilization, etc. If they do not have the tool(s) or the potential to acquire the tool(s) to finish ONE process, the whole journey can be in jeopardy. Talent type, personality and others define the boundary of their potential. Motivation DOES NOT have unlimited power. The case below is a good example that behaviors are often secondary to challenge and only emerge AFTER a person is ON THE SPOT, which is what the 360 degree can observe.
Unable to identify the precise development needs of a leader also results in extensive time, money and opportunities waste. Other technical causes can also delay and fail corporate leadership development, for example, how to personalize learning, install the “missing software” smoothly, and enhance learning practices.
Administrative and social causes include lack of support from CEOs and senior leaders and lack of motivations and confidence from individuals. Some people only want “solutions” from certain resources, including themselves. Some only respond to certain language and format. Without knowing the underlying structure and related rules, people analytic is only behavior or psychological observation and cannot be actionable. Thus, we need to get to the root causes and develop corporate leadership accordingly. For leadership development history, please visit Catch the Development Needs of a Leader before 360 Degree Evaluation.
Focus on the Shifts that Matter as well as the Holes that can Leak and Sink the Boat.
Regardless what a company strategy is, individuals can have different leadership development needs and require different action to execute the same strategy. A company opened a new category and promoted a marketing talent to be its new sub-ordinary CEO because:
However, the person has difficulties balancing intangible financial benefit over tangible and struggles with conflict management since he was “too important.” In fact, his leadership development needs could remain INSIGNIFICANT until he was promoted to CEO. Can his self-awareness and learning mind-set help him? Not really since it is hard to learn to vision intangible benefit, not to mention to become almost a genius that an excellent CEO requires. In addition, his Ego could easily become an issue once he was too important. Warren Buffet once said, “A horse that can count numbers is a remarkable horse, but not a remarkable mathematician.”
It is wise not to correct a development area. However, not to correct a development area should not be equal to ignore the area, or damage control can be inevitable. The case is a good example.
Each person has different leadership development needs that requires different time, action or alternative. No fix amount time and action can guarantee a success. Once individuals can meet current challenges, no need to update them unless their challenges change or will change, like the case above. By knowing their 6Q, we can catch most development needs of a leader ahead of the time and take early action. The Executive 6Q Assessment results are often good for 2 years in the absence of significant events.
Recently, some HR personnel explored whether people analytics enhances performance, how to simplify their approach and make their people analytics actionable. Their first discussion really amazed us– of course, people analytics enhances performance. However, no one formula for all as each human part, process, environment and stage has its own rules as discussed above. Without knowing the underlying human structure and related rules, people analytic can only be behavior or psychological observation, and, therefore, cannot be actionable.
Not long ago, we met some “leadership development experts” who evaluated leadership through psychometrics only and nailed both psychological and non-psychological issues with psychological tools. In fact, many psychological issues are secondary to NON-psychological causes, for example failures and poor health. To evaluate only psychometrics and target NON-psychological issues with psychological tools was why their leadership development was so poor. Unfortunately, the “leadership development experts” could not see the whole picture because they only react to psychological signals due to their knowledge base.
For proper people analytics, please visit from PwC CEO Study to How to Go from Good to Great Efficiently.
Learning is another whole system approach, where knowledge structure, talent type, tenacity, resources, introspection, self-discovery, etc. can all impact the learning outcome. One efficient way to facilitate change management and strategy execution is to make learning easy and fast. To do so, we need to identify the development needs precisely and minimize learning resistance. In addition, integrate learning with practices to enhance memory and turn learning into rapid action. Our leadership group classes are designed to serve the purpose. Practices at work are great but on and off.
Furthermore, senior leaders’ participation matters in organizational leadership development. McKinsey’s recent research found that successful corporate leadership-development programs were five to six times more likely to involve senior leaders acting as project sponsors, mentors, and coaches. The reason is that the senior leaders are good role models and know what matters most to the company.
Many CEOs strike to be exceptional but underestimate the needs to translate strategy into effective organizational capabilities that will affect their ultimate success. In fact, corporate leadership development can achieve a quick impact through the same mechanism of building exceptional CEOs.
1. Identify the development needs of a leader before “the 360 degree,” based on the 6Q assessment result instead of IQ, EQ and Behavior alone. The difference can be 50% of time less, efficient solutions to 30-40% “intractable” issues, and minimum damage control.2. Install the missing tools as smoothly as possible. The difference here can be weeks vs months, months vs years.3. Integrate learning with practices. The difference here can be knowledge vs action.
As the pace of change increases, so does the impact and cost of poor corporate leadership development and top team performance improvement.
How do you score in the above 4 key areas?
It is normal if you do not score high, which is why we are here. Read how to implement the 4 keys at What Stop Leaders from Good to Great.
About the Author Bin Yang is the Managing Director of The Prince Synergy (www.theprincesynergy.com), a leading consulting firm that focuses on building exceptional leaders to strengthen society and solves the hardest issues in leadership and performance that no one else can. She is also the author of What Stop Leaders from Good to Great, that many Fortune 500 CEOs wish they have long before their “retirement.”
For more information or to schedule an interview, lecture, or appointment, please contact 310-668-1828.
Many people do not understand why CEO stress has anything to do with CEO health. In fact, the two are closely connected.
Recently, the health of Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, has raised a national discussion. Many people think that his health is not his private matter because so many others depend upon him. Some even have raised a stock security issue. Forbes has pointed out that the Apple CEO turned to cancer removal surgery eight months after the diagnosis. Would there be less unfortunate issues to begin with if leaders could take better care of themselves?
When talking about how to be a CEO, people usually do not think about sustainability at times of unexpected change, intense stress, illness or injury. Unfortunately, life is full of unexpected challenges, which can disable our mind, or even take away our success. It takes a different set of skills to sustain our optimal creativity and health than to utilize them. It is important to have both. An unfortunate outcome affects not only the key person, but also his/her family, partners, colleagues, employees and more.
People tend to count on doctors for their health. However, how we handle illnesses before and after seeing doctors can mean life or death, recovery or disability. Although I had excellent medical training, I could have lost my mother had I not questioned the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) physicians after a tragic auto-accident. My mother suffered a cervical-2 fracture. Even after five weeks of intensive care, she could not get off of the ventilator. Her ICU physicians “concluded” that she would be ventilator-dependent for the rest of her life. My mother refused to live on a machine. I never doubted the ICU physicians. But at the last moment, I chose to do my own assessment and found that she did not breathe efficiently. Through a new way of breathing I taught her, my mother was taken off the ventilator successfully after only three days!
In another example, a prestigious rehab center had some very well-known experts in Traumatic brain injury (TBI). These experts concluded that the poor impulse control secondary to TBI was incurable since they could not find the cure. A resident physician with a history of TBI had one unfortunate incident. These experts linked the incident with her past injury and concluded that she had a poor impulse control and could not handle stress. They took away her residency training at the last minute even through her references from clinical training prior were excellent. Instead of telling her their reasoning, they told her something else, which has caused her a huge waste of time and money. In fact, the victim had found a way to correct the impulse control. But to these experts, if they could not find the cure, no one could! And they abandoned their own victim when their support was needed most!
Not everyone needs to go to medical school. However, we need general and systemic health knowledge about ourselves and different health systems, for example, what costly health mistakes to avoid, and how to select specialists. We need to stay in charge, especially when it is a matter of life or death, recovery or disability. A part of our 4-day Executive Synergy Program provides hands-on training in this area.
According to a survey of Vistage (an international organization for CEOs), 100 percent of 2,400 participating CEOs are suffering stress. CEO stress can come from external sources, like an uncertain economy. CEO stress can also come from our body and mind, such as the examples described above. Stress, while a great motivator, can disable our thinking and creativity, which are the keys to leadership. Stress can also harm our health and emotions. To some extend, a par of how to be a CEO is how to manage CEO stress. An exceptional CEO usually manages stress at another level.
Stress management to many people is limited relaxation exercises, such as deep breathing, brisk walking, meditation, Yoga and breaks. These are not enough to handle intense CEO stress. We need to build up our personal relaxation hierarchies for different levels of stress. At The Prince Synergy, we call it “overarmed.” We need a clear mind to look into underlying causes and figure out solutions. Different people need different relaxation hierarchies.
Another common definition of stress management is “coping with stress” and “positive thinking.” We don’t have to “live with stress.” We can prevent, utilize, reduce and transform stress. We can manage stress in many ways, business, medical, legal or even “technical” ways. A CEO suffered newly onset insomnia due to insecurities of her business. None of her relaxation methods or sleeping pills worked. Sleep is very important to productivity and wellness. She could not have a real sense of security until her business thrived, which could take time. However, she could use her faith as “the sense of security” by placing it into her unconscious level. Afterward, she has been sleeping like a log every night. In addition to faith, law can also help to eliminate stress and subsequent insomnia.
Strong stress management training is even more important at times of extreme crisis, where the level of stress is highest. Some CEOs tend to check themselves into the hospital. I had a crisis in 2007, and started crisis management immediately. I used my relaxation hierarchy to keep a clear mind, and in the meantime, kept telling myself that the crisis was not the end of the world. Instead of going to the hospital, I worked on my solution to turn the crisis into an opportunity the same night.
Our beliefs, perceptions, standards, visions and expectations can also affect the outcome. The cases of my mother and the rehab center are also good examples of blindly following authority figures (such as the ICU physicians) and assumptions.
——————————————————————————— How well do you manage stress? Take a quick assessment ———————————————————————————
What we can see in society and ourselves determines how we act and what we can achieve. I did not value Eastern medicine at medical school. After being through family injuries and personal challenges, I have appreciated its recovery and relaxation power more and more. I sometimes acupuncture myself and pick up my own herb tea for certain types of tiredness and stress. I did not know about the internet or computers in high school. What I want and can do today is different from what was possible back then. There are many ways to sustain our optimal levels. We won’t “see” them until we are open to them.
How we act can also affect our health and potential profoundly. A star athlete from Fargo High School joined Stanford on a four-year football scholarship. After he ran into bigger and meaner competitors, he chose to focus upon his economics major. He has since built a multi-billion-dollar investment firm. What if he had chosen steroid for temporary gain, or used drugs for temporary high like many others? He would have to face more problems down the road, such as systemic injuries or various issues related to addictions, such as cirrhosis and gastric mass.
Our mind, body and stress management are one integrated system. We can be limited internally and externally. The limitations can lead to stress issues in business and health if we do not take care them efficiently. We can and need to, utilize our full internal and external resources efficiently, and prosper in business and life. Leaders should not settle with how to be a CEO, but how to be an exceptional CEO.
In summary, the skills to utilize our creativity and health and to lead are different from those to sustain the potential from unexpected change, intense stress, costly health mistakes and injury. In this age of intense competition, CEOs need these skills to stay at their optimal level and save subsequent agony from CEO stress. To identify your “missing software” or alternative and help you build a firewall for your leadership is included in all of our leadership programs. This is not only about how to be a CEO, one key individual, but also about your family, partners, colleagues, employees and more.
Bin Yang is the Founder and CEO of The Prince Synergy, a worldwide leading resource that focuses on Level 5 leadership and health recovery from unexpected change, stress, illness and injury. Its services have been featured in Forbes and Euroinvestor. Yang possesses a strong background in medicine, Law and Business. For more info, please contact us at 310-668-1828.
Great leaders are the key for an institution to go from good to great. To identify the development needs of a leader ahead of time and take early action will enable both leaders and institutions to achieve more and better than to do so after they step on the spot, based on the 360 Degree evaluation. This is what we called “Catch the Development Needs of a Leader before the 360 Degree Assessment.” When the leader grows, institutions can also benefit from greater leadership and management continuity.
Many people wonder- how can The Prince Synergy catch development needs of a leader before 360 degree? A person’s internal structure and capacity usually remains the same unless significant events emerge. The capacity that each task requires can be estimated. What challenges other institutions, including top MBA, is how to anticipate the capacity change under raining days and storm since they cannot get to the entire 6Q structure but tech, behavior or psychometrics alone. However, this is not an issue to us.
Looking back, IQ was over estimated in leadership development until Daniel Goleman brought in EQ. Lominger expanded a part of IQ and EQ– breadth of experience, operation, and motivation– and add Learning Q. Michael Porter strengthened IQ with strategy and competitiveness. Peter Drucker perfected management. Jim Collins defined 5 levels of leadership within the 3Q. But no anticipation and solution if leaders crash in setbacks and failures (Adversity Quotient, AQ), lose health (Health Quotient, HQ) or face many other issues.
However, all 6Q are integrated, for example, poor AQ and HQ can shut down IQ, EQ and LQ. It is impossible to know the root cause(s) without knowing ALL associated facts. Subsequently, it is impossible to anticipate development needs of a leader, take the right action, and achieve fast and lasting results. It takes the right talent, knowledge, learning, innovation, motivation, resilience, resources, energy, and others to meet new challenges and beat setbacks and failures.
Behaviors are the reflection of the underlying 6Q structure and often change as environments change, especially under failures. For example, Napoleon committed suicide after the Allies defeated him, which was not his normal behavior. To save his life would not change his environment but only gave him the opportunities to rise again. He had to change his capacity in order to defeat the Allies. Unfortunately, he did not succeed. To help CEOs and other elites go from good to great and become exceptional is the same. The 360 degree can observe behaviors but not the causes and potential issues beneath; therefore, behavior modification can be slow or unfruitful, and traditional leadership development that is based on the behavior approach has poor impact.
By evaluating individuals’ underlying 6Q structure and the challenge ahead, we can anticipate the development needs of a leader at different processes and stages and take early action. Can He Handle the Job? is a good example. The Executive 6Q Assessment is the core assessment that scans elements needed at different processes and stages like MRI. Please watch the video “Find the Missing Tools in Motivation” for a live illustration
In addition, leaders are needed most in uncertainty and complexity that often require more than IQ, EQ and behavior tools that top MBA and firms provide. The unique development needs of a leader can be personal, interpersonal and organizational, for example strategy, leadership style, talent management, etc. A lack of the right tool make many possible impossible and turn months into years.
(Leadership & Performance MRI)
There were 253 CEO Replacements at Fortune 1000 in 2014, Man: Woman = 252:1. Would it be better to catch the development needs of those CEOs before the final 360 degree evaluation and empower them with the right tools? It is easy to understand that leaders’ internal structure makes the difference between good leaders and great ones. In fact, the challenges that they have to meet and the tools that they have also contribute to their success, which is also called “luck.” Just imagine what would have happened if Franklin Roosevelt had to run marathon. The time, place and tools all matter.
Too many. In general, it enables leaders to leverage human capital more efficiently: 1. Take early action. 2. Inspire, excite and keep others efficiently. 3. Use the right people. 4. Build a high-performing team. 5. Shorten the time and money needed to achieve goals.
Our services are the integration of Business, Law, and Medicine, including Psychology, which allows us to evaluate a leader or an elite at macro and micro levels. Our founder invented the 6Q Approach when she was looking for tools to recover herself from Traumatic Brain Injury and then help her patients meet challenges, beat setbacks and stay healthy. Many case studies in this book What Stops Leaders from Good to Great are the successful examples of the 6Q Whole System Approach. Here are some: 1. Should a CEO be Charming? 2. Eliminate Stress with the Right Law 3. Can He Handle the Job?
Can The Prince Synergy foresee Everything in the World?
We wish so. However, we know how to handle setbacks and failures and can enable leaders and other elites to be ready for the worst. We know what is possible, impossible, and can get leaders and talent ready fast.
The world is changing fast. Different challenges demand different capacities. What is insignificant today can be significant tomorrow. What is significant today can lose value over night. The fast CEO Replacements at Fortune 1000 in 2014 can be minimum had businesses anticipated their development needs and taken early action. To catch the development needs of a leader or an elite requires a systemic approach. For more information, please read the book What Stops Leaders from Good to Great.
A Right Start, A Strong Start is the diagnostic program that enables leaders and other elite to catch their development needs before the 360-degree assessment and choose the best follow-up strategies, models and group practices. All leadership group classes are linked together. Leadership, from Good to Great is the All-in-One program.
The Prince Synergy Team
Many leaders desire to be a Level 5 leader, build level 5 leadership style, or be an exceptional CEO, whether they are at Fortune 500 companies or startups. What has held them back? Do they lack focus, vision, power or will? Our recent studies have found that many leaders, from CEO, COO, CFO, CHO, CMO, CIO, other CXO to director, share the following development needs at different degrees:
Although the causes of the above development needs vary, there is one in common — most leaders only know talent’s IQ, EQ or behavior instead of their 6Q structure due to traditional education. other personal causes are the next. We have discussed why EQ and behavior alone cannot build a Level 5 leader. Now let’s discuss the 6 keys to build level 5 leadership style.
Can You Focus on the Big Picture Naturally & Passionately?
Leaders can miss the big picture for many reasons. First is their primary focus. Authentic Leadership emphasizes “be yourself.” Jim Collins’ Level 5 leadership focuses on humility —pursue the benefit of organization and team, not self, which we call “focus on the big picture.” In addition, we help leaders “Be Your Best,” which I will discuss further later.
Recently, a friend of mine, introduced Servant Leadership as doing primarily for others, not self. Although I can see the selfless element in Servant Leadership, two questions remain: “Is everyone equal in front of the God? Is selfless equal to self-depreciation?” Later, I found that the same friend focus his attention on today’s brands or well-known and was unwilling to acknowledge the “Apples in garage.” In fact, not every business has the chance to write “Hit Refresh” like Microsoft.Many leaders are authentically selfless but lack other elements or potential to get to the next level. Some leaders do not have substantial knowledge and experiences in their industries, which they should gain at professional schools and workplaces. Some have issues in their decision-making, innovation, initiative, risk-taking, effectiveness, and others, which affect how they focus on the big picture.
Do You Know Your Talent Deeply?
Knowing talent deeply is essential to task talent, manage conflicts, strengthen team performance, etc. How deep should the knowledge be? Here is an example: One institution needed to restructure some part of the company. One team was ready for the announcement; the other was not until six weeks later. The CEO asked the chairman how to handle the situation. The Chairman told him one for all. However, the CEO succumbed to the pressure of his staff, agreed to give the announcement twice and paid a miserable price.
Many leaders, including CEOs and CHOs, judge talent based on their past success and fail to link the success with its environment. President Franklin Roosevelt is a good level 5 leader example– he was a great president in the White House but would be the worst runner in Marathon. It is individual’s internal structure as well as their time and place determine their ultimate success.
Talent is the key to success. To build a high-performing team and optimize team performance, leaders need to know their talent cognitively, psychologically, physically, under the sunshine and in the storm, so they can make wise investments, excite and keep the best.
Can You Maximize Success with Risk-taking?
John F. Kennedy once said, “Those who dare to fail miserably, can achieve greatly.” This is also true in business. However, many leaders only “aim for success.” Subsequently, they cut out their opportunities to win big. CEOs, COOs, and CSOs usually do better here due to their job exposure.
Risk-taking not only matters to CEOs, but also to CFO, CHO, and other CXOs. For example, risk-taking can affect how a CFO allocates budget, how a CHO recruits and develops talent, how a CIO prepares data to support the institution’s overall strategy. Unless a team is on the same page, it is hard to executive institutional strategy effectively.
To enhance risk-taking requires not only some concepts or EQ tools, but also substantial knowledge base, sufficient innovation and learning, efficient resilience, robust energy restoration, and specific resources. Individuals need to build the confidence to take the risk.
Do You Manage Conflicts Inside Out, Win Hearts & Minds? Conflict management is inevitable if structure or strategic changes are necessary. Many leaders are interested in our Good to Great Leadership CLASS 2: Leadership Style & Conflict Management. Can people skills and deep talent knowledge handle any conflicts? No. Conflicts can emerge internally, too. How the above CEO handle company reconstruction is a good example. Another common internal conflict is being unfair to others. To manage conflicts wisely, leaders need to do so inside out.
The next level is to win hearts and minds. One skill many people admire Bill Campbell the most, former Chairman of Intuit, is that he could kick in somebody’s pants, tell the person was screwing up, and then sent the person off to improve self and let the person know that he was 100% behind. Selflessness, deep talent knowledge and communication were essential elements here. You can read more stories at Should a CEO Be Charming, Win Hearts & Minds?
In addition to interpersonal tools, policy-making, structure design and team development are also great tools to manage conflicts and win hearts and mins at personal, institutional, and societal levels. For example, how to defuse internal political problems. Law utilization and fast learning are beneficial here.
Will You Be Unforgettable in the Storm?
Like John F. Kennedy said, “Those who dare to fail miserably, can achieve greatly.” To enhance risk-taking requires not only some concepts or EQ tools. Adversity Quotient is one key element in Level 5 leadership building. The impact of Low AQ can be enormous to both business and individuals, which is why to be cool in the storm makes a leader UNFORGETTABLE.
How to handle setbacks and failures is no longer the hardest issue in business via the 6Q Approach. However, people only “aim for success.” By the time when storm arrives, they give up quickly, including some well-known Fortune 500 company CEOs.
Are You Effective and at Your Best? Some leaders fail to acknowledge their uniqueness– what fit others may not suit them vice versa, which makes it hard for them to maximize their effectiveness in work and life. Also, “Be Your Best” is not only leaders’ leadership style and skills but also their physical and mental health and personal life. Motivation or Will alone does not have unlimited power. The CEO with low energy is a good example. Unless we can see the whole picture, more “intractable issues” will emerge, waste time and money, and kill dreams.
Summary
The above are 6 common development needs that stop leaders from reaching level 5 leadership. The good news is that solutions are available. To be a Level 5 leader, develop level 5 leadership style or be an exceptional CEO, you need not only vital elements, but EVERY element because all aspects of your 6Q system are integrated. It just takes one item to slow down or break the whole system function. Of course, different individual,position, industry, and environment require differently.
Not every leader has what he or she should.” However, today is NOT tomorrow. Issues at the top are often complex and involve more than IQ, EQ and behavior tools. Through the 6Q Approach, we can locate the “missing software” and make learning easy and fast; therefore, we often can begin to see result in weeks or days instead of years or months and find efficient solutions to many “intractable issues.” “Can He Handle the Job?” is a typical example.
The New Year is coming. Do you want to achieve more in the new year? Do you have the right tools? Self-discovery is necessary but not always efficient. Do we have any seats left? Check it out.
About the Author Bin Yang is a global CEO adviser, leadership Doctor 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, April 20, 2017– The Prince Synergy (www.ThePrinceSynergy.com) announces its 3-year study findings on what fails leadership development and stops leaders to go from good to great. Among 6 leading personal causes, 5 require more than IQ and EQ to handle. However, most leadership development programs mainly offer IQ and EQ tools, some focus on secondary behaviors or psychometrics, and many use self-assessments and offer no practices.
Six Leading Personal Causes: 1. Miss the big picture. 2. Self-destruction. 3. General development needs in the management of people, conflict, and setback. 4. External challenges and failures to meet new development needs. 5. Be vulnerable under setbacks and failures. 6. Lack of a big dream or motivation.
Three Leading Development Causes: 1. Piecemeal IQ, EQ or psychological approaches 2. Focus on secondary behaviors 3. Self-assessments and no practices
When asked the significance of the studies, Bin Yang, the Managing Director at The Prince Synergy, said, “Leaders are needed most in complex issues and the storm, which often involve much more than IQ, EQ or psychometrics alone – it encompasses the entire system. It is important to scan the development needs of a leader at different stages, and make learning and action precise, so they can achieve their goal faster and better, including being an exceptional CEO. The key to do so is knowing all quotients of the leader, get to the root causes with the right tools, and not to waste time on secondary behaviors. The more leaders we can empower efficiently, the better the world will ultimately be.”
To go from good to great and develop Level 5 leadership, leaders need to optimize their leadership efficiency at personal, interpersonal, and institutional levels. They need to stay on the right track, be ready for changes and disruptions, be highly effective in the storm, and prevent setbacks and failures. The speed, results and costs often determine their rise and fall.
Unlike others, The Prince Synergy scans direction and development needs of a leader at each stage with its Executive 6Q Assessment, just like an MRI scans human body slice by slice. In addition, The Prince Synergy integrates learning with practices. Furthermore, The Prince Synergy helps leaders anticipate development needs before the 360-degree evaluation, prevent setbacks and failures, and take early action. Thus, they often take less than 50% of the time others may require. The Prince Synergy’s video can also be found on Youtube, and book “What Stops Leaders from Good to Great?” is available on Amazon.
The Prince Synergy (www.theprincesynergy.com) is a leading consulting firm whose mission is to inspire and enable businesses and individuals to be their best and enjoy lasting success. The Prince Synergy delivers groundbreaking leadership development and performance management with its endless passion for freedom and creativity, as only The Prince Synergy can.