How in the world can an executive in the newspaper business look at the explosion of smartphones and tablets since 2008 and predict that newspaper ad revenue would grow in 2011?

The business world is full of similar examples of company’s unwilling to face reality and get out ahead of a trend.  Why?  It is human nature.  Once a person gets settled in a rhythm, they have a very difficult time convincing themselves that there is a better way to do things.

How can you avoid this in your organization?  It is not that hard.  Here are three tips that are guaranteed to bring some fresh thinking:

1.) Three year assignments will help make sure that you are regularly getting some fresh perspectives into the organization.  At the top of organizations, it is clear that boards of directors are way too slow to terminate executives that are not tackling the future aggressively.

2.) Organize around key trends and protect the group from the people who run the current business.

3.) Beware of “experienced” individuals. Usually such individuals view any change as a threat to their livelihood.  Staffing your new initiatives with “experienced” people dangerous.

The most fundamental rule of business is to appropriately support and grow the going business, while you independently pursue new initiatives to drive the business further. The second activity should not get in the way of the first.  Pepsi violated this rule big time by massively under-supporting it’s beverage business over the past few years.  It is reported that PepsiCo needs to spend $580 million more on beverage marketing support in 2012 to be competitive.

Another rule that was violated was picking an arbitrary goal of tripling sales, based on nothing but hope that all the hype around healthy foods was actually driven by consumer interest.  It wasn’t.  The fact is not too many people hunger for a hummus-based snack!  Until your testing confirms that your product and marketing ideas generate consumer excitement and demand, be wise in your forecasting.

What is the learning for each of us?  Easy…

1.) Execute your core responsibilities very well.  That is your primary responsibility

2.) Generate and push new ideas and ways to do things, testing them and nurturing them until you have verified their value, and then push them hard without getting in the way of your primary responsibility.

There is nothing a leader should fear more than not being trusted.  Lack of trust makes leading impossible.  How do you lose people’s trust?  Easy…you lie, exaggerate the positive and downplay the negative, blame others when problems are your responsibility, and most importantly, you don’t deliver what you promise.  Given that list, it is easy to see why Washington DC is not trusted.

What are some positive examples?  How about Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford.  He came in fresh in 2006, was totally objective about what was wrong, put plans in place to fix things, and then accomplished what he set out to do.

And then there’s Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, who apologized in early 2010 for the accidents in Toyota cars thought to have accelerator pedal issues even before the reasons for the problems were clear( of course, the press instantly concluded it was Toyota’s fault).  In response, Toyota did massive analyses, making sure there were no problems with their cars, but the press continued to beat them up.  Importantly, Akio didn’t gloat when the independent testing firm announced a year later that virtually all the problems were caused by driver error (mistakenly having their foot on the gas versus the brake!).  Akio must be very proud of the recently released 2012 Consumer Reports awards, showing Toyota won five of the ten “Top Picks.”

The guidelines in this area are clear:

• Speak the truth at all times.
• Be objective.
• Get things done.
• Take responsibility when things go wrong.

That is what builds trust!

Source: Gallup

• The average American spends two months of his/her waking year online

• The 4 major screens that occupy our time: laptop, TV, smartphone, tablet

• By the end of 2011, over half of Americans had a smartphone

Look around you on the bus, in the grocery store, even behind the steering wheel.

People everywhere are glued to their technology – and more and more that involves a “smart” phone.

How many times a day do you reach for your iPhone or Droid to check e-mail and get sucked into reading medium and low priority stuff?  Even worse, how much time are you spending browsing the myriad of apps you’ve downloaded or posting random stuff on Facebook?  No doubt, the new smartphones are incredible information and entertainment tools.  On the other hand, if misused, these “smartphones” can waste an enormous amount of your time.

Successful leaders have laser-like focus on priorities.  Ongoing responsibilities are carried out as efficiently as possible, leaving time to focus on the one or two change efforts designed to significantly improve things.  To achieve this, you can’t be a slave to gadgets.

Yes, many professionals use a smartphone as part of their time management strategy. We now have the power to access information and organize in ways never thought possible. However, sometimes it can be too much.

One thing that struck me about working with Bill Gates for many years was the focus he put on managing his time.  He stated often that time was the scarcest of all resources.  He would literally schedule uninterruptable 45-60 minute periods in the morning and late afternoon to clean up his e-mail, focusing primarily on the messages of significant priority.  He left the rest to be handled later (sometimes much later).

Used properly, smartphones can be a huge timesaver and even boost your productivity.

But be careful, becoming a slave to your “smart” gadget can be a big career impediment!

But, be careful; enthusiasm alone doesn’t carry the day.

Consider the following two dimensions: 1) Laid Back versus Enthusiastic; and 2) Skeptical versus Gullible. The enthusiastic but gullible person typically has problems getting things done. The laid back and skeptical guy is usually the wet blanket, not the achiever.

The great leader is typically very enthusiastic but also quite skeptical when things don’t make sense or numbers don’t match points of view, plans or specific objectives.

Consider Alan Mulally, the very successful CEO of Ford. Last year, hits such as the Ford Fusion and Fiesta propelled sales of Ford models upward at twice the rate of the overall market. Mulally, a relentlessly enthusiastic salesman, wasted no opportunity to look into the eyes of reporters, squeeze their forearms, and remind them how “fabulous” Ford had become.

But Mulally also has a very skeptical side. For example, every Thursday morning at 7:00am, inside the Thunderbird Room, a windowless conference room in Ford’s Michigan headquarters, Mulally meets with his 15 top executives. At these 3-hour meetings, known as BPR for business plan review, he requires his direct reports to post more than 300 charts, each of them color-coded red, yellow, or green to indicate problems, caution, or progress. The purpose; find problems early and fix them quickly.

Net, enthusiasm is uplifting, but coupled with skeptical, it is powerful.

This is often referred to as the self-fulfilling prophecy and it goes like this: If a person thinks we are clever or stupid or whatever, they will treat us that way. If we are treated as if we are clever, stupid or whatever, we will act, and even become, that way. The person has thus had their prophecy about us fulfilled!

I suspect many of you have experienced this. Did you ever have a boss you just couldn’t please? Pretty soon you start doubting your approaches, and often walk away from your strengths in an effort to guess what will be acceptable. Conversely, it is great to have a boss that you know inherently trusts you and believes you can do great work. You tend to trust your instincts, seize opportunities, and go the extra mile, causing your performance to be much better in that environment.

What are the lessons?

1. If you’re a boss, until proven wrong, make it clear to a subordinate that you believe he or she can knock it out of the park. If the person screws up, discuss the incident and indicate your confidence he or she will have no trouble learning from it. If they continue to underperform, help them find a job that is a better fit( inside or outside the company).

2. If you are a subordinate with a negative boss, talk it with that person. If no progress after a few tries, indicate your interest in finding a job that is a better fit (that often is a trauma for the grumpy boss and a big change in that person’s behavior sometimes occurs).

It is also instructive to note that the category leaders of 3 years ago, Nokia and RIM, are fighting for their lives, and many believe are not salvageable.

Why? Both were seduced by their success and were incapable of continually creating a crisis focused on the next big thing (like touchscreens and apps, which they should have jumped on before Apple, given their category leadership positions).

So how do you continually create the crisis that enables you to constantly stay ahead of your competition? Here are the key steps:

1. Isolate the Deadliest Scenario: What are the characteristics of the most devastating scenario that a competitor could launch? Sometimes it is technology-related, sometimes a new business model, a different marketing approach, a PR campaign, etc. Think thru the options with a group of some of the most knowledgeable and creative people on your staff.

2. Develop the Team: Form a small team to seize the scenario before a competitor does and make it happen.

3. One Person Accountability: The person leading the team should clearly realize that his or her performance appraisal will depend on the success of the effort.

4. Set Specific Deadlines: Sometimes deadlines need to be set arbitrarily, since you are early in the game, but remember, deadlines create urgency.

5. When Finished, Immediately Go to Step One: As Andy Grove, the retired CEO of Intel said, only the paranoid survive!

This week, another Jobs leadership trait worth considering.

In his biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson points out the incredible focus of Jobs, noting: “Instead of encouraging each group to let product lines proliferate based on marketing considerations, or permitting a thousand ideas to bloom, Jobs insisted that Apple focus on just two or three priorities at a time.” Additionally, a clear takeaway from the book was the incredible rudeness of Jobs, and rudeness is putting it mildly, as he strived for absolute excellence.

Separately, I ran across an interesting article recently called The Power of Purpose by Dean Forbes. The thinking that stuck with me was his statement: “When you discover your true purpose, all of your choices become much clearer and you move with reason rather that with randomness. You experience less chaos and confusion in your relationships and projects and you move continuously while others seen to stand still. Purpose fuels motivation and your determination to fulfill you calling.”

What can a leader learn from all of this? Here is my take:

1. Focus the Organization on an Exciting Purpose – Having tight focus on a specific goal is fun. It is like being on a winning team. Contrast that to being in an organization that is simply going through the motions each day, and no real sense of eventually reaching an exciting goal; it is dull and boring and people are underutilized.

2. Hold Out for Excellence – A human tendency is to quit during the journey, typically when an intermediate plateau is achieved. Don’t give in.

3. Be Firm But Courteous; Not Rude -Lots of managers are reluctant to say no and reluctant to demand focus on a small number of high priority things. They sense that would be rude, when in reality they are doing the organization a big disservice. Strong leaders are stubborn as a rock, but do it in a way that the troops are told why and the message is delivered with respect.

Sometimes this worked for Jobs. His technical people swore there was no way to decrease the boot-up time of the Macintosh, but when Jobs went into a “reality distortion” rage, demanding progress, they found a way to cut 28 seconds.

But… sometimes it didn’t work. In January, 1983 when Jobs and his team were developing the Macintosh, they decided to use a new 3 1/2 inch disk drive, recently available from Sony. Jobs didn’t want to work with big, powerful Sony; he favored a small Japanese supplier, Alps Equipment, who Jobs claimed they could design and develop a less-expensive clone of the Sony drive in time for the launch in January, 1984. The Apple developers said such quick development was impossible. Jobs went into his usual rage, demanded that Apple have their own 3 ½ drive via Alps, claimed that Alps would have no problems making the schedule, and ordered all work with Sony cease.

In May, 1983, Alps admitted they would need at least 18 more months to develop the drive. Fortunately for Jobs, the Macintosh team was so skeptical of Alps that it had a secret agreement with Sony to prepare for being the disk supplier. Jobs swallowed his pride and thanked the team.

Here’s the lesson: Gutsy leaders push hard to achieve the apparent impossible results but they do it smartly, protecting against the downside, and they do it without chewing up people (as Wozniak put it: “Steve’s contributions could have been made without so many stories about him terrorizing folks”).

I’ve spent all of my life working in industry, first at Procter & Gamble, then as COO at Microsoft, and for the last ten years as a consultant. Along the way, I’ve met hundreds of high-level business leaders and I’m here to tell you, this captain’s behavior mirrors failures I’ve witnessed on a first-hand basis far too often over the course of my career.

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