3 things that drive Amazon

Jeff Bezos talks about the three things that drive a company forward: 1. Customer obsession, 2. Invention and 3. thinking long-term and how these three business drivers are inherent in both Amazon and Zappos’ business cultures.

 

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When hiring use survivor bias

I have had opportunity to conduct interviews on behalf of my company for over a year now. Most of my colleagues who have been on the interview panel have asked me why I spend lot of time asking candidates about tasks and jobs that they failed at. Well this is what helps me differentiating between the good and the best candidate. I call this technique ‘Survivor Bias’ – an important statistical principle that can greatly affect the future of my company and quality delivery to my clients.

Let me site this with a simple example

During World War II, the English forces sent planes each day to bomb the Germans. As you might expect, several of these planes were shot down. And, the ones that did come back typically returned with multiple bullet holes. Now, the English obviously wanted to maximize the chances of its planes and soldiers returning home so English engineers studied the planes that returned. In doing so, they found patterns among the bullet holes. Specifically they found lots of holes on the wings and tail of the plan, but few in the cockpit or fuel tanks.

As a result, the English added armored plating to the wings and tail. As you might have already concluded, this was the wrong thing to do. The better decision would have been to add armored plating to the cockpit and fuel tanks. For, the planes that were shot in those places were the planes that were shot down and never returned. The English engineers' analysis missed this data because these were the planes that they were unable to examine. This is "survivor bias"-- their inability to include this critical data in their analysis since it was unavailable or didn't "survive".

So why does it matter to you when you are talking to a brilliant candidate with superb success record? When you hire candidates who have only worked at successful companies, you may fall victim to survivor bias. They may not have learnt many of the lessons that individuals learn when they fail.

Now I am not advising that interviewer shouldn’t go for candidates who claims that every one of their projects have been successful. I personally believe to differentiate a good candidate and the best ones, as an interviewer you should use survivor bias.

Do take couple of minutes to share (below) the unique techniques you have used while interviewing for aspirants for your company or portfolio.

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Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks -- including death itself -- at the university's 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005.  Here is the video and transcript for this address - You've got to find what you love

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Traits of Servant Leadership

"Top down" leadership is the most common, easiest and traditional. I work for a company where it is most prevalent and I always thought it to be the most efficient form of leadership. Lately, I started realizing that there is even more effective form of leadership that can produce the best environment for everyone - The Servant Leadership. A leadership that emphasizes trust, empathy, collaboration and the ethical use of power. Till date, I am searching for a true servant leader in my organization. Here are some of the traits that I personally feel are absolutely required in a true Servant Leader:

1/ Authenticity - Always be your real self in every circumstance. Hold the same values in whatever role you have. A true servant leader is not only visionary but also an honest, authentic human being. The one who is willing to admit his mistakes, who doesn't let's his ego prevent him from apologizing to someone lower in hierarchy. Being authentic is first knowing yourself and then being yourself.

2/ Vulnerable - Being honest with your feeling in the context of your work. Being open with your doubts, fears and concerns about an idea, an employee's performance, your own performance and being able to admit mistakes openly particularly with your employees. Being vulnerable takes a great deal of courage because it is contrary to traditional leadership where most people are told to believe that power comes from our ability to maintain control. A true servant leader always believe that power comes from realizing that we can't be in control and we must depend on others.

3/ Accepting - Acceptance is more important than approval. Most of the conflicts in workplace originate because of personality rather than product or process. The art of acceptance does not imply that you accept everyone's ideas without critical analysis, discussion and judgment - only that you accept ideas as valid for discussion and review, and that you focus on the ideas themselves, not on the person who presented them.

4/ Be Present - Having your whole self available at all times - available to yourself as you try to bring all your values to bear on the work at hand, and available to others as you respond to the problems and issues and challenges of the team members, colleagues, managers, employees, vendors and customers.

5/ Be useful - Be a resource for your people. One of the primary functions of the manager/ leader is to assure that people get the resources they need to do the job. To be a leader who serves, you must think of yourself as their principal resource.

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Talent Grooming

A successful leader is the one who believes in his people and makes every attempt to groom them so that they can reach their potential. Here are some of the guru mantras that have helped me groom my team:

Believe in your folks before they succeed: If you want your team to reach their potential, you need to believe in them before they become successful and sometimes before you can persuade them to believe in themselves. Though it is much tougher to believe in people before they have proved themselves but as a leader, you need to carry this trait.

Emphasize their strengths: The best way to show people your faith in them and motivate them is to focus your attention on their strengths. By emphasizing people's strength's, you are helping them believe they possess what they need to succeed. Praise them for what they do well both privately and publicly. Tell them how much you appreciate their positive qualities and their skills. Any time you get an opportunity to compliment them in front of their family and close friends, do it.

List their past success: There may be times when you need to encourage an individual beyond emphasizing his strengths to motivate him/her. An easy way to do this is to make the individual feel important. Help people remember their past success and they will have confidence in their future actions. Not everyone has natural ability to recognize their past successes and draw confidence from them. If you can show them that they have done well in the past and help them see that their past victories have paved the way for future success, they will be better able to move into action.

Instill confidence when they fail: Some people are resilient and willing to keep trying in order to succeed, even when they don't see immediate progress. But others aren't that determined. Some will collapse at the first sign of trouble. To give them a push and to inspire them going you need to keep showing your confidence in them, even when they are making mistakes.

One of the ways to do that is to tell about your past troubles. Sometimes people think that if you are currently successful, you have always been that way. They don't realize that you had your own failures and flops. Show them that success is a journey, a process and not a destination. When they realize that you have failed and yet you are successful, they will realize that it is okay to fail. And their confidence will remain intact.

Experience some wins together: It is not enough just knowing failure is a part of moving forward in life. To really become motivated to succeed, people need to believe they can win. Coming alongside others to help them experience some wins with you give them reasons to believe they will succeed. And in the process, they sense victory. That is when incredible things begin to happen to them in their lives.

To help people believe they can achieve victory, put them in a position to experience small success. Encourage them to perform tasks or take on responsibilities you know they can handle and do well. And give them the assistance they need to succeed. In time as their confidence grows, they will take on more difficult challenges, but they will be able to face them with confidence and competence because of the positive track record they are developing.

Visualize their success: Each time you cast a vision for others and paint a picture of their future success, you build them up, motivate them and give them reasons to keep going.

If you can practice the above mantras with your direct reports you will not only be able to successfully groom talent but you will be their hero. We all live under the same sky but we don't have the same horizon. Make people see beyond today and dream big. When you put your faith in people, you help them expand their horizon and motivate them to move to a whole new level of living.

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The product - YOU!

In most situations in life you need to sell yourself (a.k.a employ your talent). If you are one of those who will raise eyebrows hearing the word 'sell' then you will have tough time going-ahead in life. Marketing yourself is not a luxury, it's has become a necessity now and you better learn this art. Have you ever noticed that experienced salesman always sells himself and the company first. Then he will discuss the product and finally you will hear him say "Now, lets talk about how little this product will cost considering everything that you will get".

Your brand is the truth about YOU!
Make sure you always have a very well thought brief introduction about yourself. A story that reveals your talent. Like every company, every person has dozen of good stories that reveal their talent. Discover these stories and tell them well. What is your story? How can you tell it best? If you need help, ask for it. Go to a person who knows you well and can give you a perspective.

A brief summary about what you do?
Write down your answer to above question. Show them to people you trust and ask them is it clear? Is it simple? Does it inspire their confidence that you are focused enough to sell yourself? If it sounds like you do many things or too many unrelated things then your buyer may assume you may not be able to do any of them well. Always find a niche. Even if you do range of things well, find out what your inquirer needs and focus your message on that need only.

What difference do you make?
When it comes to why you be a valueable employee? Make sure you do not answer what makes you different but how what you do makes difference for the employer. You may want to read about the marketer before you pen down this answer. It needs to be a personalized one to make an impact.

Are you enviable?
Always ask yourelf - Are you a person or a company that your competitors envy? Apply this to youreslf. Ask, "If not, why not? and what can I do to change that?"

People don't think, they stereotype
If you have been to America, you may have noticed that Americans on meeting a new acquaintance will always ask " So what do you do for a living?" The answer let them categorize the person. Accountant? Stiff. Lawyer? Arrogant. Engineer? Analytical. Our mind paints a quick picture - paint that obscures our view of the unique person behind it. Everyone sterotypes, its because it is convenient and makes it easy to remember. So before you try to make a pitch/ sale, ask yourself how this person likely to stereotype me?

Visit this space again for continued series on productizing YOU .......

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Consultative Leadership

Leadership doesn’t always come easily to project managers because they have little clout. The nature of their work, often as temporary engagements, means project managers have limited authority over their team. They often don’t perform formal reviews of the team so they have to figure out a way to lead and guide people to satisfy customer needs.

Consultative leadership can do that. You can help educate others, help guide and direct them, but you must let them have a say in how work will get done. If I told you what to do, would that motivate you or demotivate you? If you are a highly trained, competent person, it can be a de-motivator. Project teams are fed up with the … hierarchical view of management. These people like to be told the goal but not how to do it. While project managers don’t have the authority to make go or no-go decisions, they do reign supreme when dictating how a project is executed. With this distinction in mind, influencing others to act means inspiring ownership or empowerment in a project through strong direction, advice and even education. Allow everyone to have a stake in the project. Team members can thus be more emotionally committed to the project. They’re empowered to execute project tasks, but the project manager can set a strong direction with the vision that they pass along from the sponsor.

until later …… V

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