3 Posts, Org Tensions & Respect
February 3, 2023
Finding myself still thinking about frameworks this week, I have encountered a few articles that expanded my knowledge of tensions. Tensions are outstanding tools that give binary qualities to complexity that is anything but either/or. Simplification, though, provides parameters or models to generate understanding - and further thought.
I encourage my readers and listeners this week. Think further about how tensions in your organizations and careers may be positive and even leveraged for advancement toward however you define success or feeling rich.
Top News
This week I released the three blog posts. Two were written last week. Starting with ChatGPT. Some Thoughts…, I delved into the new, controversial, and still remarkable writing/generation technology powered by artificial intelligence. The subsequent post, As Your Customer Would or Does, was the thought that delayed publishing these very writings. I had listened to a previously-published podcast (Spotify, Overcast) and found it to be boring. Putting myself in my listeners’ shoes, I rewrote the ChatGPT post and its follow-on post. Finally, today, I wrote and published Respect: An operational framework. Respect is certainly an operational framework to put strategy to use, and a tension to be considered for performance and employee development.
Supporting the Ambitions of Others
A coworker of mine approached me this week. The topic of motivation was the purpose for a dialogue. We will continue this coming week, but the sense I got was a loss of motivation. Hopefully I will be able to offer at least a listening ear, if not some brainstorming opportunity and perspective.
What I Learned This Week
Explaining Stuff
It took a long time to find graphics for my most recent blog post, Respect: An operational framework. What image connotes one in a role of oversight with respect for others both of their own accord and as those with varying degrees of capabilities? Tough riddle, right? I came up with a lifeguard. The image I gathered completely covered the identity of the person in the lifeguard chair. I thought that was apropos.
Organizational Leadership via Legitimacy
How about the following definition of leadership from Michael E. Porter and Nitin Nohria:
Effective CEOs combine formal power and authority with legitimacy. CEOs achieve legitimacy when employees believe in them as people and as leaders. They earn legitimacy in multiple ways - by demonstrating values, ethics, fairness, and a selfless commitment to the company and its people, among other things. Legitimacy gives rise to motivation that goes far beyond carrying out orders and can lead to extraordinary organizational performance.1
Other News & Updates
MIT Sloan Management Review
Last month I mentioned that January was my birthday month. Another year means I’m older and hopefully wiser. To bolster that wiser characteristic, I asked for and graciously received a year-long subscription to MIT Sloan Management Review (SMR)! MIT SMR says on its website that it “explores how leadership and management are transforming in a disruptive world. We help thoughtful leaders capture the exciting opportunities—and face down the challenges—created as technological, societal, and environmental forces reshape how organizations operate, compete, and create value.”2
Learn more—and get yourself a subscription, too!—at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/.
No More Posts to Twitter
Twitter no longer interests me. I tried it. I’m keeping the handle, but as of January 28, I am no longer going to post there – at least for the foreseeable future.
TechCrunch
I added TechCrunch to my weekly news email subscriptions. TechCrunch is a news source for the business of and behind the technology industry.
Upcoming Quotes and/or Graphics
I produced a graphic for the first time in a while. It comes from my Respect: An operational framework blog post. I graphically interpreted the article that prompted my writing. Balancing Respect shows a spectrum, from Owed Respect to Earned Respect, each of which is its own scale, from low to high. The essence is an organizational tension between the two forms of respect; additionally, when an organization exhibits high levels of each, identity development (i.e. personal growth) results.
Miscellaneous
A terrific 2018 article by Micheal E. Porter and Nitin Nohria in Harvard Business Review outlined results of their research into how CEOs use time. The subtitle to their article, ‘How CEOs Manage Time’, summarizes the article well. ‘Time is the scarcest resource leaders have. Where they allocate it matters - a lot.’ Their section on dimensions was timely if not really interesting.
Dimensions: Another Framework
I wrote a few weeks back about strategies and frameworks. Porter and Nohria offered a framework for “managing dualities simultaneously [as] a hallmark of effective CEOs.” It was a series of 6 spectrums, or competing facets of influence. About them, the authors offered,
In managing across these six dimensions of influence, it is easy for CEOs to overlook the less direct, less top-down, less tangible, and more human aspects of their work. Without this awareness, though, CEOs give up some of their most powerful levers for driving change.
Porter, Michael E., and Nitin Nohria. “How CEOs Manage Time.” Harvard Business Review, vol. 96, no. 4, pp. 42–51.
“About Us.” MIT Sloan Management Review, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, https://sloanreview.mit.edu/about/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2023.