Stay in Touch With Your Creative Side

The best people to lead Creatives often started out as Creatives themselves. Sure, you can bring leaders in laterally from outside the creative world, but a lot of times they won't bring an understanding of the Creative's mindset. So if you can, it's usually best to grow leaders from Creatives.

With that in mind, a true Creative won't stop being creative. Very often, though, the demands of a leadership position don't allow time to exercise that creative spirit. That's going to be frustrating, and anything that makes you uncomfortable in your job is going to make it tougher for you to do your job.

So if you feel your creative urges bubbling up inside of you, don't hold them in. Put them to good use. Engage your creative side. Not only will you be happier -- and probably a better leader as a result -- you'll also maintain a better understanding of your Creatives' needs if you're acting as a Creative yourself.

If you can't fit this into your job -- maybe you really don't have time at work, maybe you'd be getting in the way of the Creatives who work for you -- then perhaps you can do it in your spare time. Maybe you can turn it into volunteer work: women's shelters appreciate having hairstylists come in, non-profits can often use free web design help, elementary schools appreciate having free photographers for school events. Your creative expression doesn't have to be the same as what you do for work, it just needs to be something special for you.

And maybe you should take an opportunity to try something new. If you're a fashion designer, try interior design. If you create video games, try writing poetry. Just do something to keep your inner Creative happy.

Who Owns What?

This is not legal advice. I'd have to have a law degree and be a member of the bar to offer that. And I'm not. So for legal advice, contact an attorney.

(The above is a disclaimer, which is a legal device. I'm allowed to use that, even though I'm not a lawyer. I think.)

Intellectual property is a major concern for Creatives. The output of creativity is often something new and original, and many of these outcomes require protection with a patent, copyright, or trademark. Hairstyles might not, and your company's strategic plan doesn't, but logos certainly do, and you better protect that new video game, too. The question for you is: who owns the property?

You might think the answer is simple, that the company owns it. Obviously, that's the basic scenario we think of: employee works for company, employee creates something, company owns it, end of story.

But there are lots of exceptions and alternative scenarios. Does a university own something a professor creates if the funding came from an outside source? What if Creatives work on projects on their own time? What if you're working with free agents rather than full-time employees? What if...what if...what if...

It's better to ask these "what if" questions early on before problems arise. As part of your contract with your Creative you should address the topic of intellectual property. Both of you need to agree to the rules of the game, and also have a system in place to resolve issues that fall outside those rules.

For more on this, visit the US Patent and Trademark Office (where a lot of my friends happen to work). And of course, think about getting advice from an intellectual property lawyer. Don't just rely on blogs to fix this kind of issue.

The Importance of Fitness

Every now and then I think it's worth linking back to a previous entry, such as this one on physical fitness.

And I'm not just saying that because I set a new Personal Record in yesterday's Marine Corps Marathon.

Personable, But Not Too Personal

During a couple days last week I listened to someone in a nearby cubicle explaining Facebook to his supervisor (bless her heart) and then "friending" her. Knowing what I do about this guy's life, I'm not sure he really needs to be inviting his boss into his personal world.

A friend mentioned something similar to me last week. His company's about to expand their use of Facebook, and he wondered about friending his boss. I advised against that, suggesting maybe he could set up a second, professional account instead, but he said he'd probably never log into that second account, something I've heard from other folks before.

The question this creates for me is: if I'm the boss, how much to I want to be enmeshed in my employees' personal lives? How much do I really want to know???

My friend made the point that in past jobs he's always been most effective when he's gotten along well with his co-workers and bosses, sharing personal stories and talking about more than just work. This makes sense; you tend to work better with the people with whom you get along well.

But how well do you need to get along to work well together? How far do you have to go? How much do you really need to blend your personal and professional lives?

Social networking sites are a key part of those questions. We often put out far more information on Facebook than we would ever discuss in the office. We also have less control over what gets communicated; friends can tag us in photos or post things to our walls that others can see, and by the time we know it's there, lots of people may have already seen it. It's good to be personable at work, it helps people work together better, but we need to consider some limits as technology increases the potential for sharing information far beyond what we ever would have shared in the past.

So, be friendly with your employees. Take an interest in their personal lives, without becoming a stalker. Know about the good things like a birthday coming up, or the bad things like a death in the family or trouble at home. Knowing your employees better will help you work with them better. But before you go overboard, ask yourself how much you really want to know about their personal lives.

And perhaps more importantly, you might ask yourself how much you want them knowing about yours.

A Place for My Stuff

A friend of mine recently posted pictures on Facebook of his new office.

He's a strategic planner at a large international organization, having been there about 6 months since finishing his master's degree. He is quite literally making the world a better place. Not a bad gig. He learned a few weeks ago that he'd be moving out of the office he shared with someone else and getting his own space. Immediately, his thoughts turned to making this new place his own, and based on the pics I saw, he's done exactly that. The tasteful artwork, the flowers and other amenities, the well-organized desk, all fit his personality. Nice.

Like my friend, I'm a strategic planner in a large bureaucracy, but unlike my friend, I work in an area reminiscent of a Dilbert cartoon, or a minimum-security prison. As I looked at his pictures I glanced around the three walls of my cubicle. Photos and mementos are propped up against the walls because there's no way to hang anything. I don't have room for all the books I need so most of them are stored at home and I have to make notes to myself to remember to bring them in as needed. I get to listen to all my neighbors: the guy in his 20s with ADD, the single father in his 30s who's pretty sure the world is supposed to revolve around his needs, and the new lady in her 40s who spends her days gossiping on the phone with people from her past jobs. It's not exactly an environment where I can do my best work. The only times in my career when I've had anything even come close to a proper office has been when I'm teaching.

Creatives need a space where they can create. What that space will be will vary based on the needs of your firm and the personalities of your Creatives. Hair stylists don't need individual offices, but they benefit from a well-designed salon. Creative teams might use individual work spaces but then need a communal area to come together when the team needs to function like a single individual. Truly creative people often like to surround themselves with a creative style, and will be more productive if they're working in a space to which they enjoy coming, rather than one which they can't wait to leave.

Your own experience in your creative field will help you understand what works well. Talking with your Creatives will help you understand what THEY think works well. The trick, of course, is to find the available space and make it happen.

You can't always do that. If you're in an established space and can't afford to move, then even if it's less than optimal you're probably stuck with it. If you're just starting out, you may not be able to afford much. You just need to do the best you can with what you have, but be sre to talk to your Creatives so you know how to define "the best." If they physical layout isn't that great, let your Creatives have some freedom when it comes to decorating and livening up the place.

If nothing else is possible, just bring in some fresh flowers every now and then. And maybe some cupcakes. Because everything seems nicer with flowers and cupcakes.

Planning for Leadership

Traditionally, business plans address factors such as market potential, advertising, finance, organizational structure, and other foundational issues that are essential for starting and maintaining a business. These are often the things that are easy to nail down, whether through data collection, or standard models, or just a simple decision about one option over another. But do they include specific plans for leadership?

If they don't, they should.

Leadership and human capital development are fuzzy topics, and it may be hard to decide early on how you want to address them. But as you look at how your firm will grow, you need to be thinking about how your leaders will grow, too. Whether you're looking at who's going to run your firm now, or who's going to run it 5 years from now, you need to be thinking about what kind of people you want to have doing that, and what skills they should possess.

I'll admit, I hadn't thought a lot about addressing leadership in your business plan until I saw something last week. A friend of mine in Singapore has a small graphic design company that, since he started it 3 years ago, hasn't quite worked out as he'd envisioned. During some talks we had last month while I was there, I sense he was at the point where a big breakthrough was about to move him forward. Things seemed to be coming together, he was gathering the motivation to kick it into gear, and I just hoped he'd carry through on the things we discussed.

Well, so far he is, and during the last 2 weeks he's shared with me his business plan that includes some of the new things happening now and that has some pretty specific plans for international expansion during the next 5 years. What intrigued me most was something he sent last week, which I've included below with some details changed:

2010 Singpore’s Management – CL
2010 US and Overall Management - JL
2011 Singapore’s Management – DY <-- CL Mentor
2011 Singapore and US Management – CL <-- JL Mentor
2011 New Zealand and Overall Management - JL
2012 Singapore management – FC <-- DY Mentor
2012 Singapore  and US Management – DY <-- CL Mentor
2012 Singapore, US and NZ Management – CL <-- JL Mentor
2012 UK and Overall Management – JL

Now, consider what he's done here:

- He's identified people to lead and manage now
- He's identified people to lead and manage later
- He's laid out the mentoring relationships to build the skills of future leaders
- He's accounted for his own continuing education and the education of others
- He's figured out who will lead the expanded effort before he expands

This is fantastic! What he's done is put leadership on the same level as everything else we consider important to a business. By paying attention to it now he's ensured that when he starts expanding he'll have the most important piece of the infrastructure -- the leadership -- in place. And he's got a plan for developing it, rather than just assuming it will be there.

He's already used this plan in one interesting way: he's talked to all these people about what he's doing, so now he'll actually do it...by telling them, he'll be accountable to them and they'll hold him to it, since he doesn't want to fail in front of them. That's pretty smart, because while we might be tempted sometimes to just give up, we're less likely to do it when someone's watching (a fact that occurred to me at about Mile 8 of a 10-mile race earlier this month...but that's a story for another time).

You can't just assume good leadership will exist for your business. You can't even assume YOU will be a good leader...you need to give it some thought, see what skills you need, and make sure you or the people you choose are ready. Give it as much consideration as you would give to any other piece of your business plan. Some things can be fixed if you get them wrong, but not having good leadership is a fast road to failure.

Places and Spaces

An article in the Wall Street Journal at the end of last month posed a question to a panel, asking which cities are most likely to attract young people. The Top 5 they came up with included:

Washington, DC and Seattle (tied for first)
New York City
Portland (Oregon, not Maine)
Austin

You might want to take a look at this. Why? Well, not because you should be focused on recruiting and hiring only young people. That's not just a dumb plan, it's also more than a little illegal. BUT, these places tend to be popular younger people because they provide an invigorating environment, the sort of place that supports and encourages creativity. It's not age, in this case, it's location, location, location. When you're looking for Creatives, you might want to be looking for the sort of people who'd be attracted to cities like these.

So, how can you make this information work for you?

Well, first, you might want to locate your business in one or more of these cities. If you're a big firm with offices in many places, or if you're small but mobile, consider relocating to someplace like one of these.

If you don't feel like moving your firm to the favorite-city-of-the-week, consider hiring free agents from these cities. Look for the people who've moved there to take advantage of what the city has to offer and see if they might be right for you. Just because they live there doesn't mean they have to work there...that's the beauty of free agency.

Both of these points get at your recruiting strategy. Very often, a firm's recruiting strategy tends to be either too narrow or too broad. Sticking only to your home city, a narrow strategy, limits your pool of potential Creatives, while going to broad, and searching, say, nationwide, can leave your recruiters overstretched and not able to do a very detailed job. So use this information to tailor your recruiting efforts.

There are other cities the panelists discussed that didn't make the Top 5. If you're not getting anything worthwhile from looking into the cities listed above, consider some of the runners-up.

Where you work can help determine who works for you. Your recruiting strategy needs to consider which locations are desirable for the kind of people you want, and what it is that makes these places so great. Then find the right location for recruiting, and hit 'em hard.

Private-Sector Diplomacy

Much of your leadership occurs inside the firm, but you need to be looking at your relationships outside as well.

The recession has affected firms' relationships with their customers. In many cases, your efforts to cut costs may have reduced the quality of your customer service. If you've missed deadlines or turned out products that aren't hat your customers were used to, then you'll need to work to regain their trust.

You may also have seen a negative impact on your relationship with your pool of potential employees. Maybe you had to lay off employees, and will need to be hiring more Creatives once things are better. But the simple fact that you laid off people in the first place may have given you a bad reputation, leaving potential employees wary of coming on board. You need to fix that, too.

An interview conducted this summer by the folks at McKinsey Quarterly addresses how firms can work to repair their reputations with different stakeholders. You should consider not only customers and potential hires but also your current employees and your shareholders, if any. The idea is to take some of the concepts governments use in "public diplomacy" (think of this as the "winning herats and minds" kind of thing) and apply them to private businesses. Public relations specialist Richard Edelman, interviewed by McKinsey, discusses it far more eloquently than I can, so go hit that link and watch the interview (also, I don't want to be accused of plagiarizing...just go to the source!)

Economists and government officials are saying the recession appears to have bottomed out and things are getting better, but the recovery will be slow. If so, we all have some work to do, so let's get at it now rather than waiting around. Fixing your bruised relationships is one key part of that.

Happy Columbus Day

Columbus proved that sometimes leaders don't need to be good, they just need to be lucky.

Hope you get the day off.

Focus, People

"OK," he said, "here we go."

It was Tuesday morning, and my supervisor had just arrived, breathless, at my cubicle. He's the head of strategic planning for our organization, which consists of about a thousand people scattered around the globe, with activities in nine countries. Because of some new laws that will soon be passed, our operation is going to expand by 150% in the next 5 years.

"The Big Boss just told me," he said, "that we're going to hold a planning conference, and soon, to figure out a way ahead."

Now, this might not sound like much, but to a strategic planner like me, it was great news. Why? Because for three years I've been writing about the changes occurring in our operating environment, trying to encourage our leadership to both shape that environment and adapt to the things we can't affect, and predicting what will happen if we fail to do so. Now, after I've been largely ignored for those three years, we're being forced by new legislation to change our practices, and do so in a way that's going to sharply increase our workload. Finally, I'm going to have a chance to lead some positive changes, even though we're being forced to rather than doing it by choice.

"So," said my boss, "I've got Alex looking for a conference room we can use."

And it hit me: with all we have to think about, with all the research and analysis we need to turn out before this can happen, with all the possibilities open to us for doing some really good work in the future...my boss' first thought is about finding a conference room.

Obviously, the logistics of a one-day meeting to be held in two months are important. Equally obvious is the fact that they aren't the MOST important thing. The fact that my immediate supervisor goes directly to that, first thing, is my first indication that he doesn't really have a clue what we're going to talk about at this thing.

That becomes clearer as we talk. He is setting dates and wondering about coffee and donuts; I'm asking him what product the Big Boss is expecting to come out of this, and he says he doesn't know. He is wondering if we can push it back to after New Year's, but looks confused when I ask if we're just planning for the next five years, or farther.

I understand why he's focused on these details: it's easy. Figuring out how to arrange the seats around the table is a lot simpler than figuring out what everyone should be discussing at that table. Unfortunately, my supervisor's inability to focus on the work that really needs to be done during these last three years has left him unprepared for the task we've just been handed. He's afraid to focus on the important things, because he knows he's not able to talk about them intelligently, so he instead addresses the minor details that are easy to mark off a checklist.

Your Creatives deserve better. When something important comes along you need to focus on the value-adding aspects of it rather than worrying about the simple things. If you employ a short-term focus, looking only at the easy details and ignoring the important, and often harder-to-do, stuff, you send a message to your Creatives that that's what they should be focusing on too, and as a result the really important stuff gets thrown together at the last minute, if at all. Trust me, your requirements for a conference room will become clearer once you know what it is you're trying to accomplish.

As it turns out, I have (with my supervisor's approval) started bypassing him and going directly to the Big Boss to get a better picture of what he wants to accomplish. Unfortunately, he's not too sure yet, either. So either I'm going to be stymied again by indecisiveness, or this time they'll just give up and let me lead things. Should we be placing bets on which way that's going to go???

All Asians Are Not Quiet

LeadingCreatives.com's 2009 Asia Tour ended a week ago, so it's probably time to wrap up the lessons learned from Asia. We'll do so, though, with an article from America's Diversity Executive magazine.

Kellye Whitney writes in "All Asians Are Not Quiet" that for a long time Asians in the U.S. have often been viewed as unsuited for leadership positions because they are considered "too quiet and meek." This is a case where stereotypes aren't just hurtful and insulting, they're also affecting someone's career. And in this case, they're pretty much wrong.

While the article points out that Asians tend to be anything but quiet and meek -- and anyone who's ever been at a large family gathering can confirm this -- the unfortunate result of stereotyping is that some Asian employees feel compelled to adjust to those stereotypes in order to fit into their "expected" place in a company. I've even seen this in a few social settings during trips overseas, when some folks treat Westerners differently from their fellow countrymen. But there's nothing about Asian culture that explicitly inhibits leadership skills (and there are also about as many "Asian cultures" as there are countries in Asia), so leaders who overlook their Asian employees are actually hurting themselves, too, by missing out on important contributions.

The concerns expressed by some folks are discussed pretty well in the article, so rather than repeat it here I'll just suggest you take a look. Remember, even though some people might say "a stereotype wouldn't exist if there wasn't some truth to it," the REAL truth is that if you accept stereotypes and base your decisions upon them, you're probably going to make the wrong choices.

Fast and Furious: MBA Drift

Among other things I saw on my trip to Asia was a growing interest in post-graduate education, specifically the MBA. The MBA has long been viewed in the West as a qualification for a leadership position. Whether it really is or not, that's the perception, and no matter what, advanced education does tend to be useful. That view is taking hold in Asia, as more and more companies are starting to look for folks with advanced education to take on leadership posts, including those in creative fields.

A common approach to the MBA in Europe is the accelerated MBA program, which takes a year rather than the more traditional two-years. A recent article in the Asian edition of The Wall Street Journal took a look at these programs, which are gaining popularity among Asian firms, according to folks with whom I spoke. But are they a good idea?

(Disclosure: I earned my MBA through a two-year program, though I was a part-time student, taking two courses a semester for 5 semesters)

There are some clear advantages to these programs, the most obvious being that you only spend a year out of the workforce rather than two. With only a year in which to perform you tend to stay very focused, and you'll often be surrounded by others with business experience rather than by students who just finished an undergraduate degree (those folks tend to go for two-year programs). So, a group of mature, experienced students working together in a fast-paced, fairly structured environment, can make for a good educational opportunity.

But as with all things in life, there's a downside. Moving so quickly through the program can leave little time for serious thought and critical analysis, as you jump to finish one project quickly so you can move on to another. Another loss is the opportunity for an internship, which many traditional students will do during the summer between their two years. Finally, many accelerated students report their networking opportunities are reduced, with weaker bonds between alumni and less assistance from career placement offices, who simply don't have the time to develop networks for students who are there such a relatively short period.

So who should consider an accelerated program? Well, they seem to be pretty suitable for people staying in the same career field, particularly those returning to the same company. They don't need the networking as much, nor the internship, as they have already established a place in their fields and are simply moving on to the next step. These too are the folks for whom an extended absence might be bad, as they fall behind their peers in terms of work experience, so getting back to work more quickly is probably a good idea.

If, on the other hand, you're using your MBA as a jumping off point to change careers, you should consider the two-year programs.

Advanced education is becoming more popular in Asia, where education has always been respected but work experience is as well. For many people, an accelerated MBA might be an excellent choice. Speed isn't the most desirable quality in an educational program...but it might be the most useful one.

Loyalty is Important, But...

...make sure it is smart loyalty.

One suggestion we've made for dealing with the recession is to try to keep your workforce on, since if you cut them now you're probably going to have to hire them back later when things get better, and you'll have a better relationship with them if you keep them engaged throughout this period.

Having said that, you may feel like you must let some people go if your firm is to stay in business (As Caiphas and Mister Spock taught us, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one"). Or, you may simply feel someone's not pulling their weight, whether in good times or bad, and it's time to let them go. Either way, you're going to have to deal with the conflict inherent in loyalty.

You hope for loyalty from your Creatives, and so in turn you must demonstrate it to them. People who do good work for you deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully, and if they work hard for you then you should try to keep them in the job. The basis for that loyalty, though, needs to be something important to the firm. Ideally, you should be demonstrating the strongest sense of loyalty based on performance and potential rather than simply on longevity and seniority.

Unfortunately, the later criteria often become most important. A colleague in Asia told me that his firm is preparing to lay off as much as 20% of their workforce in December (I tried to explain the "that's just not right" aspect of laying people off right before Christmas, but I don't think it resonated as strongly there as it would in the U.S.). However, the CEO has identified one person who absolutely will not be laid off because "he's been here so many years."

Now, it's nice that this employee has been with the firm so long, but is that really relevant? The real question should be what he's doing for the firm. You'd like to think someone with that much longevity is a contributor, but it might simply be that they knew no one else would hire them because they're so bad, so they managed to stay on. Do you want to be cutting skilled people while holding onto somebody for the simple fact they've been around a long time, regardless of their abilities? If so, that's a recipe for trouble.

That's not merely a hypothetical situation; in this case, the employee in question not only doesn't do much, but also, since learning of the CEOs decision, now does even less because he knows he can't be fired. Removing his external motivation to do good work leads him to be an even less productive employee.

If you want to consider longevity in your layoff decisions, fine. Just don't make it the only factor, or even an important one. While you want to be loyal to individuals, you also need to be loyal to the firm as a whole, and keeping individuals who aren't as talented doesn't satisfy that need. Reward those who do well and you'll end up rewarding the whole company instead of just a few individuals who may not even deserve it.