Spring 2013

In This Issue

The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter

by Michael D. Watkins

In this just updated and expanded version of the international bestseller

The First 90 Days, Michael D. Watkins offers proven strategies for conquering the challenges of leadership transitions. Watkins is a noted expert and adviser to senior leaders. In this just released update, he addresses the demands placed on today's leaders who face not only more frequent transitions but also steeper expectations once they step into their new jobs.

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RECOMMENDED VIEWING

How Great Leaders Inspire Action

"People don't buy what you do; people buy why you do it."

In this highly entertaining TedTalk, Simon Sinek explains why great leaders inspire us to follow them.

FROM THE WEB

McKinsey Quarterly: Lessons from the leading edge of gender diversity.

Advancing women to the top may be a journey, but how to do so is no longer a mystery. New research points to four principles that can help just about any company.

Click the image above to see the results of this research, based on interviews with CEOs, HR heads, and high-performing female executives at 22 US companies.. Registration may be required, but it's free.

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Women, Wit and Wisdom is now on Facebook. Click the icon above and like our page. We post research and thought-leadership, ideas and advice, women in the news and more. For anyone who is interested in advancing women's development, please visit us and join the conversation.

Follow the links below to stay connected with news, information and more great resources that we're sharing on these social media sites.

Developing resonant leaders through emotional intelligence, vision and coaching

Organizational Dynamics (Winter 2013) Vol. 42, No. 1, P. 17 Boyatzis, Richard E.; Smith, Melvin L.; Van Oosten, Ellen; et al.

Traditional leadership development programs fail to sustain behavior, especially when it comes to emotional and social intelligence competencies that are known to predict effectiveness. An innovative program developed by the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University has shown dramatic improvements as far out as seven years post program. The article provides a recent case study involving Fifth Third Bank.

Members of Fith Third Bank's Organization Development team earned certificates in emotionally intelligent leadership and coaching through Weatherhead's Executive Education programs to prepare them as internal advocates and champions of the leadership development approach within the bank as it drove cultural change.

Weatherhead faculty team interviewed the Fifth Third's CEO and each member of its executive leadership team, leading to a series of programs structured as two-day learning experiences designed to take the bank's leaders through a multi-level change journey. The goal was to develop leadership competencies through a series of programs augmented with one-on-one executive coaching and action learning projects. Senior executives had the

opportunity to achieve deeper self-awareness of their leadership behavior and become more effective change agents and relationship managers - key business goals for the organization. The program was
anchored in the principles of emotional intelligence, resonant leadership and holistic balance.

Between 2010 and 2012, 370 of the organization's leaders participated in the program, resulting in many personal and professional transformation success stories.

The Fifth Third Bank project has already achieved results in the form of a new crop of top executives, including Chief Risk Officer Mary Tuuk and Senior Vice President and Division Head of Central Operations Paul Moore, who gained their positions by putting their training into practice and becoming resonant leaders.

Leader Derailment: The Impact of Self-Defeating Behaviors

Leadership & Organization Development Journal (02/13) Vol. 34, No. 1, P. 85 Williams, Feruzan Irani; Campbell, Constance; McCartney, William; et al.

CareerPath Leader derailment is the stalling of a high-potential leader's ascent and/or demotion and/or ouster of the leader and has been estimated as high as 50-75%. Four themes show up consistently as causes of derailment and organizations as well as individuals are impacted:

Derailment impacts the career of the leader
The organization loses potential talent
Employees are affected by poor leadership exercised by the derailed leader

A study was conducted to examine whether self-defeating behaviors (SDBs) correspond with leader derailment, and to compare SDBs to the previously identified derailment theme of problems with interpersonal relationships. Deans at AACSB International-accredited business schools were polled about interpersonal relationship difficulties and SDBs that may have been portrayed in one to two of their derailed direct reports.

Analysis of SDBs was conducted to assess their correlation with derailment, followed by the behaviors' comparison to the derailment theme.

Personality and derailment. The study verified a correlation between personality characteristics and leader derailment, but only in the case of characteristics that are operative during interactions with others.
Engagement with others. The results also determined the multidimensional nature of SDBs and that those behaviors involving engagement with others were significantly affiliated with leader derailment.
The role of SDBs in derailment. Finally, the results suggested that SDBs were significantly more indicative of derailment than were problems with interpersonal relationships.

These findings are particularly important given the retirement of baby-boomers and resulting dramatic increase in demand for competent leadership. The study concludes that companies are advised to understand the underlying causes of derailment and take proper steps to minimize its impact.

The employment of concurrent behavioral development strategies that supply feedback when employees engage in SDBs and reward self-management has been encouraged as a training technique for reducing SDBs, but assistance from others may be required if the leader is to comprehend and remedy his or her pattern of SDBs.

The Use and Effectiveness of Top Executive Dismissal

The Leadership Quarterly (02/13) Vol. 24, No. 1, P. 9 Hilger, Stefan; Mankel, Stephanie; Richter, Ansgar

Researchers recently discovered that poor individual and firm performance significantly increase the likelihood of executive dismissal, but they question how effective executive dismissal is for enhancing future firm performance and whether it is the best option.

The decision to dismiss a top executive puts the board in a difficult position for at least three reasons:

A lack of independence - the CEO or another top manager is likely to also be a board member which results in political maneuvering, coalition-building and potential negative publicity.
Unclear performance evaluation standards and conflicting performance expectations from different stakeholder groups against which to measure top executive results.
Pressures inherent to the process of deciding on dismissal. This includes signalling an overall leadership failure in the selection, taking action or allocation of responsibility for the CEO's failure.

The researchers looked for evidence that dismissal is a reaction to poor individual and/or firm performance. They also studied the consequences of executive dismissal, specifically to its relationship with firm performance.

Both poor individual performance and poor firm performance are related to the likelihood of top executive dismissal,. This suggests that performance measures serve as primary indicators used by boards to decide whether to dismiss.

Tenure in office and executive power are related. The threat of dismissal decreases with longevity, with the strengthening power base serving as a protection against dismissal.

Long-term impact of replacement is inconclusive. While the evidence suggests that executive dismissal and outside replacement are conducive to organizational and strategic change in the short and medium term, the executive dismissal has no significant effect on the long term success of a firm. Firing an executive can send out a message that in the short term placates stakeholders who think replacing the executive will be enough to turn the firm around, but this should be considered in the light of other disruption created by a CEO departure.

The researchers propose that future research examine the selection and integration of new CEOs, as well as the use of consultants or executive coaches to help an under-performing executive back on track to avoid the disruption caused by termination.

In Closing ...

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Margaret D'Onofrio

Principal/Executive Coach

D'Onofrio Consulting Partners is a founding member of Columbia Coaching Alliance, a world-class group of seasoned executive and organizational coaches with diverse industry experience and unparalleled capability. Their access to Columbia's cutting-edge research in psychology, neuroscience, and organizational development establish an unmatched resource in the field and, together with their global professional network of coaching associations and support personnel, enable organizations to leverage their human capital advantage.

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Margaret D'Onofrio

Principal & Executive Coach

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