The Future of Corporate IT Looks a Lot Like Google

by Jeanne G. Harri

They tweet. They showroom. They pin and like and yelp. And whenever they do, customers accelerate corporate IT's biggest challenge: to rethink and reinvent itself. The implications stretch beyond any one hot seat in the C-suite.

More than ever, customer experiences are based on a foundation of technology and delivered to a digitally-savvy population. Digital experiences come in many guises: mobile apps, web sites, how-to videos on YouTube, LCD screens on products (think of exercise machines that track calories burned). Some experiences come through channels that companies can influence but not control, such as social networks and review sites.

Digital experiences unleash more ways for companies to influence and satisfy the customer, and differentiate themselves from competitors. But there's a catch for CIOs and other tech-minded executives: to keep creating opportunities, companies must keep changing the experience or fall behind. Each generation of technologies raises customer expectations beyond the last.

In part, this is because customers will keep raising the bar for satisfaction and attention as they use the new technologies and services. But emerging technologies will also enable customer experiences that are far superior to those of today. For example, companies will anticipate customers' future needs, and act like personal advisors. Already, Google Now works on an "anticipate and deliver" basis: the technology delivers information that's needed before it's requested. Companies will assist customers as they cross back and forth between physical stores and the online world. Spanish clothing chain Desigual has moved part of the way there, creating flagship stores in Paris and Barcelona that only stock samples — the customer can try on different looks, then purchase the clothes online.

Tomorrow's digital experiences will offer new kinds of value, solving needs that did not exist before in locations that didn't exist before. When driverless cars roam the freeways, cars are no longer just vehicles. Their interiors will be designed to be whatever passengers want, be it a theatre, office or shopping mall on wheels. And who wants digital gift wrap? An MIT startup called "Delightfully" is betting people who give online gift certificates will appreciate it.

The problem for companies is that once customers see something cool, different or better, they expect to see it everywhere. This puts immense pressure on the organization to keep up with the competition while trying to innovate in its own right. It's a digital arms race, and corporate IT and other functions must be battle-ready.

How can companies exploit digital technologies to deliver compelling customer experiences time and again? Executives across the C-suite will need to work together with corporate IT and F.O.C.U.S.: 

• Frame strategy based on a new model of customer interaction. Traditional customer acquisition strategies won't work because the path to purchase is no longer linear. Customers now find, evaluate, discuss and buy products nonstop, bounce from one stage to another. A complaint on Facebook or a recommendation on a fan's web site can hasten or redirect a purchase. This upheaval requires a new way of thinking that spans the physical and digital worlds.


• Optimize marketing efforts to achieve influence at scale. Word of mouth still influences purchasing behavior. Only now, social networks increase that circle from a few trusted friends and family to hundreds of people online. By studying what customers do with social media, and identifying their sharing patterns, companies can provide attractive online social content at the right time to the right people.


• Create new digital experiences by adopting Silicon Valley's approach to innovation. The tech staff at companies like Google, Facebook and LinkedIn use agile, iterative development techniques to deliver improvements fast. They quickly test new services and features with actual customers and data. And by tapping crowdsourcing and open source communities, they bring more ideas to the table and turn them into products fast.


• Use in-depth analytics to understand customers better. Creating digital experiences built on cloud and analytics will rewrite how marketing and sales teams work and break down internal silos. For example, when companies capture and analyze their customers' interests, and integrate it with data from other sources, marketers and developers can better predict and influence consumer behaviors and deliver more personalized experiences. Social media and marketing data can also be integrated with warranty data and post sales and service feedback.


• Set up enterprise IT that can design, build and run digital experiences. The bottom line for CIOs: to serve the accelerating demands of digital customers, IT organizations will have to behave more like Amazon or Google, and less like their traditional competitors. Legacy systems often prevent it. They are unable to manage unstructured or non-numeric data, or too inflexible to develop new features at Valley-like speed. But that won't be acceptable to other executives. They will wonder why their IT organization can't be more like Facebook's "hackers" and make thousands of bug fixes, improvements and new features each week. For corporate IT to remain relevant, it must get its house in order now or risk irrelevance. If rethinking corporate IT leads to a fresh start for corporate IT, so be it. The business side cannot afford to wait while today's customers tweet, like and yelp.

How to set up e-mail alerts on your Pebble Watch

You can finally receive e-mail alerts on your Pebble Watch when using an iPhone, but there's a big catch.

On Thursday, Pebble released an update to its iOS app for the Pebble Watch that added a workaround for e-mail alerts. Up until now, iOS users would have to go to Notification Settings and toggle the "View on Lockscreen" setting any time their phone and watch lost Bluetooth connection. So if the phone was restarted, or you simply wandered out of range for the two devices to stay connected, you'd have to do "the finger dance" (as named by Pebble users) in order to get alerts back. Even then, e-mail alerts were hit or miss.
With the latest Pebble for iOS update, users are able to add a Gmail or IMAP-based account to the app, and it will poll for new e-mails every 9 minutes. That's right, alerts won't be anywhere near instant. Bummer.

Yahoo buys browser RockMelt to bolster mobile, networking

 Yahoo Inc acquired social Web browser company Rockmelt, the latest move by the struggling Web portal to scoop up technology and engineering talent that could bolster its mobile and social networking efforts.

Yahoo did not disclose financial terms of the deal, but a source close to the situation said the price was between $50 million and $80 million.

Michael Dell closes in on prize with sweeter $25 billion deal

Dell Inc and Chief Executive Michael Dell clinched a new $25 billion deal on Friday, boosting the bid and offering a special dividend in hopes of ending months of wrangling with opponents of the founder's proposed buyout of the world's No. 3 PC maker.

The new agreement includes a special dividend of 13 cents per share on top of a 10-cent increase in the sale price to $13.75 per share. In return, Michael Dell and his private equity partner Silver Lake convinced the company's special committee to agree to change the voting rules so that abstentions no longer count as opposing votes, a big boost for their camp.

Apple battling U.S., states over proposed e-book limits

Apple Inc is headed for a showdown with the U.S. government and dozens of states, which on Friday urged that tough new restrictions be imposed on the company for illegally conspiring to raise e-book prices.

The changes proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice and 33 U.S. states and territories are designed to stop Apple from committing further antitrust violations after U.S. District Judge Denise Cote on July 10 said Apple had a "central role" in a conspiracy with five major publishers to raise e-book prices.

Moto X Release:Google Bets On Voice Control And Customization With New Phone

Moto X is finally here.

Google on Thursday unveiled the Moto X, the first smartphone fully designed and built by Motorola since it was bought by Google last year.

But thanks to recent leaks, the phone's biggest features didn't come as a surprise: The device can be customized with different colored rear casings and accents, it has a camera that is activated with a flick of the wrist, and like the new Droid lineup announced last week, many of the phone's functions -- including Google search -- can be controlled solely by your voice.

Google's Moto X Phone Shows Innovation Now Means Customizable Phone Covers

From the hype surrounding the launch of the Moto X, the first Motorola smartphone designed from the ground up under Google's supervision, one might have expected genuine innovation. And we got some, provided you're willing to use that word to describe customizable phone covers.

The Moto X seems like merely the latest in a parade of new smartphones that, despite being packed full of appealing features and cutting-edge technology, are not easily distinguished from the ones they are seeking to replace.

What Not to Say When Negotiating Your Salary

When you think back to your last job offer, were you happy with the result? I'm not proud to admit the number of jobs I accepted without attempting to negotiate anything, only to be discouraged about the outcome later (thankfully, I've learned my lesson).

New iPhone set to ID people through fingerprints, code shows

CODE contained in the latest beta iOS software shows that Apple could be turning the iPhone into a fingerprint scanner, making it possible for the smartphone to check someone's identity as they touch the screen.

Apple news site 9to5Mac reports the latest pre-release version of the operating software iOS 7 for iPhones and iPads that will be released later this year contains a folder called "BiometricKit UI".

Samsung Galaxy S4 ROM: MoDaCo.Switch Fundraiser Hopes to Allow GS4 Users to Switch Between TouchWiz and Stock Android

Samsung Galaxy S4 owners looking to choose between more Android operating systems could soon receive an HTC One exclusive: MoDaCo.Switch.

For those unaware, MoDaCo.Switch is a custom firmware from the MoDaCo team that allows HTC One users the option of choosing between booting up an HTC-inspired Android firmware or stock Google AOSP. The firmware, despite only going beta recently and still having some bugs to iron out, has garnered tons of positive reception, and a new fundraising campaign is hoping to bring it over to the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Like many copyright holders, Microsoft routinely asks Google to remove links from its search engine that contain copyrighted material. But last week, the software corporation mistakenly asked Google to remove its own web pages from search results.

Microsoft recently filed a Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown request against Microsoft.com, accusing its own website of copyright infringement, TorrentFreak first reported.

LeakID, a company working on behalf of Microsoft, submitted the request, which asked to remove links to Microsoft’s store, support pages and product descriptions from search results. Despite the two companies’ long-standing rivalry, Google noticed the mistake and kept the pages up.

But Microsoft has made mistakes in its takedown requests before, accusing credible and original websites of copyright infringement. TorrentFreak previously reported that Microsoft submitted nearly 5 million takedown requests in a one-year period.

Best smartphones 2013: The best phones available to buy today

So, you want to buy a new phone? If you're looking for the best smartphone of 2013, you've come to the right place. We will guide you through the hottest mobile phones of the year to save you time when you go to your local phone shop.  

Our list of 16 great handsets covers all operating systems, all sizes, and prices, so you’ll be armed with everything you need when choosing to buy your next smartphone. We’ll be regularly updating this feature with the latest and greatest smartphones we review, so you can see where the smart money is heading. 

Let us know what you think is the best smartphone in the comments below. 

What a Leader Needs Now: 7 'Feminine' Qualities

These traits, typically associated with women, make for great leaders--whether women or men.

Labelling traits as masculine or feminine reflects popular perception rather than evidence-based fact.

But it's a handy way to think about what works in organizations today. The following qualities, traditionally identified with women, produce results for leaders of both genders. 

The Best Startup Decision I Ever Made: 8 Founders Fess Up

The concept of failure is all too familiar to founders today. It's almost a mantra: Fail fast, fail often, fail early, fail cheap - sometimes, it seems like there are far more ways to fail than to succeed.

But every once in a while, startups make a pivotal decision that creates an undeniable shortcut to the finish line. We asked eight successful entrepreneurs from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to share the single best decision they ever made with their startup.

1. Choose The Right Co-Founder

People often liken a co-founder to a spouse: You spend more time with them than anyone else in your life, you have to be uncomfortably honest about difficult topics and, if all goes well, you stick together through thick and thin - or at least until a successful exit. I trust my co-founder completely and rely on her to provide a balancing perspective in all our important decisions. We've certainly made mistakes along the way, but we've borne the consequences of those mistakes together. We also genuinely enjoy spending time together, which makes the whole startup adventure a lot more fun! Our relationship has provided important business advantages since our clients, employees and investors can sense the mutual commitment we have to the company and each other. - Martina Welke,Zealyst

2. Get A Subscription At Mixergy

Quantum Breakthrough Could Lead To Satellite-To-Earth Teleportation

Professor Eugene Polzik

Stop us if you've heard this before, but scientists have made a breakthrough in teleportation - and this time it could lead to commercial applications for the technology, including Earth-to-satellite teleporters.

(Just for sending information, sadly. Not astronauts.)

Researchers have been able to teleport information from light to light for many years, and in 2006 researchers at the Neils Bohr Institute were able to teleport between light and gas atoms.

But now the team has gone one step further - teleporting information between two clouds of gas atoms, and being successful "every single time".

Described in the journal Nature Physics, the technique takes advantage of a quantum phenomenon in which a laser light and gas atoms become "entangled" when the former is fired into the later.

The experiment works (roughly) like this: two glass containers, containing billions of cesium gas atoms, are enclosed in a chamber with a magnetic field.

When the laser light (set to a certain wavelength) is fired into one chamber, the outermost electrons in the gas atoms "react like magnetic needles", and point in the same direction (either up or down, or 1 and 0 in digital terms).

The gas emits photons, or light particles, which contain this quantum information. That light is sent on to the other container, where the information is "read by the light" and registered by a specially-made detector. The signal is then sent back to the first container - completing the teleportation from the second to the first.

The result is that information is sent from one chamber to the other, with no physical link between them.

Currently the technique only has a range of about 50 cm - meaning it's hardly ready for commercial application. But in principal the team says its possible to use the same idea on large scales.

"We could increase the range if we had the space and, in principle, we could teleport information, for example, to a satellite," said Eugene Polzik, professor and head of the research center Quantop at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.
culled from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

20 Important African Startups to Watch

Kenya's huge success with mobile money and the M-Pesa platform has launched Africa into start-up spotlight. But African innovation goes way beyond mobile money. Whether it’s eCommerce in Nigera, price comparison in South Africa or mobile advertising in Tanzania, African start-ups are not only changing their continent, but the world.

1. Saya - Ghana

Chat messaging clients are hugely popular across Africa. Mobile chat app Saya Mobile builds on the success of such services. It works across the iOS, Android, Blackberry and Java platforms, and is a product of the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) based in Accra.

2. Ushahidi - Kenya

Ushahidi, which means "testimony" in Swahili, was initially a website developed to map reports of violence around the 2008 Kenyan election. The company has since evolved to become a tech non-profit that specializes in developing free open-source software for data collection, visualization and interactive mapping.3. AdsBrook - Ghana

Digital and mobile advertising is big business everywhere, including Africa. AdsBrook provides a network of channels for advertisers to run integrated campaigns. Headed by New York-born Derek Jason Bossman, who relocated to Ghana with his parents as a teenager, the company operates in West Africa and is rapidly expanding across the continent.
4. Gloo.ng - Nigeria

In Lagos, a city of 21 million people with 30,000 more arriving every day, the idea of running an online grocery business seems insane, but Gloo somehow manages to grow. Founder Dr. Olumide Olusanya gave up his medical practice to devote time to building his business. It now employs more than 100 people 
5. Mara Online - Uganda
Mara Online is a family of web and mobile platforms that allow users to communicate, interact and collaborate. Sometimes referred to as Africa’s answer to Skype, the May launch of the company saw a chartered jet fly over Silicon Valley with a Mara-branded banner that read, "It’s Time For Africa."
6. Aim Group - Tanzania

This digital agency is disrupting the media, marketing and brand space by harnessing social media and traditional communications. The company works with major African brands, such as Vodacom, Castle, Tigo and Ndovu to extend their reach and messaging.

7. PriceCheck - South Africa

As the largest price comparison site in South Africa and Africa as a whole, PriceCheck considers the prices of thousands of products. In May it faced 100,000 other entrants to win the International "App of the Year" at the BlackBerry Live conference in Florida.

8. Iroko Partners - Nigeria

Iroko is the world’s largest distributor of African entertainment, including Nigeria’s huge Nollywood film industry. Launched at the end of 2010, the company has a global audience of more than 6 million users from 178 countries — it's regularly referred to as "Africa’s Netflix."

9. biNu - South Africa

BiNu mobile app platform can boost Internet speeds by 10 times, which means even the most basic phones can have smartphone-like capabilities. Its more than 100 channels include social media, news, weather, entertainment and free books. BiNu users can also interact with each other via news feeds, social profiles and messaging.

10. Konga - Nigeria

One of Nigeria’s leading online megastores, Konga is growing rapidly across its mobile and SMS platforms. Founded in the summer of 2012, the company now has 150 employees. It promises to deliver products that range from flatscreen TVs to cosmetics anywhere in the country, within five dayOne of Nigeria’s leading online megastores, Konga is growing rapidly across its mobile and SMS platforms. Founded in the summer of 2012, the company now has 150 employees. It promises to deliver products that range from flatscreen TVs to cosmetics anywhere in the country, within five days.

11. Bozza - South Africa

Backed by HP Ventures, Bozza is a mobile social networking startup aimed at township users. It's headed by entrepreneur Emma Kaye, who describes the service as "a place to discover and share content, enabling small enterprises in a township environment to collaborate and prosper."

12. Njorku - Cameroon

Launched in March 2011, the Njorku job search engine helps users find careers across Africa. Active in seven countries, the platform offers free and unlimited access to hundreds of thousands of job listings. The company has already raised seed funding from a business angel in France and a Canada-based technology company.

13. Fawry - Egypt

Fawry is a payment service customers can use through banks, post offices and a nationwide network of retailers. Services range from bill payment to Internet and mobile banking. The company employs 250 people and has already collected more than $220 million.

14. Spinlet - Nigeria

As a mobile music download platform, Spinlet offers media distribution to emerging markets in Africa. It encourages the social aspect of music by making it easy to create and share playlists to friends within the application, while enabling both the purchase and discovery of new music.
15. MXit - South AfricaMXit is Africa’s biggest social network, with 50 million users across more than 3,000 different mobile phones. Users can send free online messages, enjoy multiplayer games, buy music, exchange goods and even trade on the stock market.16. Dropifi - GhanaDropifi users can see data in relation to industry metrics, access demographic and social media profiles of message senders and analyze the real sentiment behind the messages they receive. In May 2013, it became the first African company to join the 500 Startups Accelerator Program in Silicon Valley17. ForgiveMeNot Africa - ZimbabweForgetMeNot Africa’s optimizer technology converts Facebook "actions," emails and chat messages into SMS formats, without connecting to the Internet. The company’s ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe’s eTXT service is a cheaper alternative than a fixed-line Internet connection or most Internet cafés.18. Jumia - NigeriaAs Africa’s biggest online shopping mall, Jumia operates in Egypt, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Kenya as an "African Amazon." In March 2013 it received a $26 million investment from Summit Partners, which it will use to expand business to other African countries.19. moWoza - South AfricaThe company’s commerce service focuses on mobile as a delivery platform. Customers can "shop wherever they are, at any time" and register with a licensed agent. When the transaction is complete, both the customer and beneficiary are informed by SMS, which also indicates where the parcel can be collected.20. Afroes - South Africa/Kenya

Afroes produces applications and content for young people, which contain educational and social messages. It is in development with a series of mobile games and SMS reporting platforms that will form the interactive component of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, "Champion for Children campaign." In 2012, the company won the prestigious MEF Social Responsibility and Development Award for its Moraba game in London.

By Monty Munford

Start Celebrating Yourself Today

We can spend so much time managing our careers, our money and our relationships that we don’t always stop to recognize our successes. We're too busy moving on to the next meeting, project or item on our to-do list. Or we set the bar so high we won't hit it for awhile, if at all.

So today, let's celebrate.

Let's forget about outcomes. It's not about whether you got the promotion, the salary bump you asked for or the new client. Right now, it's the fact that you asked, you researched, you presented.

For just a few seconds, focus less on what's important to your boss, your company and your colleagues and zero in on what was progress for you. Did you wake up early enough so that your morning wasn't rushed? Awesome. Did you bring your lunch this week and save the money to go toward a new car? Nice work. Did you rely less on your notes during a presentation? Way to go.

I bet, with a little practice, you'll even be able to find things to celebrate in less than ideal circumstances. Like Rebecca, who started a discussion in Connect: Professional Women's Network, noting that she was laid off after 20 years in marketing and wanted to reinvent herself. Nearly 2,000 people commented with tips and support for handling the transition. Being laid off is rough, but I'm celebrating Rebecca being vulnerable enough to ask for advice and all the who people responded with encouragement and job leads.

Now it's your turn. What can you celebrate right now?

3 Things You Should Know About Hiring celebrity.

3 Things You Should Know About Hiring celebrity.

Marketers increasingly rely on stars from the worlds of entertainment, media and sports to endorse their products. By some estimates, 10% to 20% of all ads that aired in the United States in recent years featured celebrities endorsing products and brands; the percentage is twice as high in some Asian countries. With such fierce competition for their services, the most sought-after endorsers are richly compensated – they can earn millions of dollars for what amounts to less than a day of work.

Do these investments make any sense for marketers? And what's the best approach? Here are three things that I think everyone in the business world should know about the strategy of relying on celebrity endorsers.

1. The strategy works. It really does.

First, few promotional strategies can impact the bottom line as much as -- and as quickly as -- forming an alliance with a celebrity. The strategy often works tremendously well.

Not every pairing of consumer and celebrity brands works, of course, but several brands studied saw sales rise with more than 20% after teaming up with an endorser. And because spillover effects on other brands in the category were limited, it seems the strategy can really help brands to gain an edge over their competitors.

2. Celebrity endorsers can solve a multitude of problems

The sheer magnitude of the effects of celebrity endorsements may be impressive, but that’s only part of the story. If we think about why and how partnerships with celebrities achieve those returns, it becomes clear that such alliances can help marketers solve a number of different problems.

The most obvious observation is that celebrities help marketers generate “free” publicity and raise awareness for their products. We live in a culture in which many consumers love to keep close tabs on what their favourite celebrities are up to. With so many people voluntarily paying attention to stars’ every move, they are great advertising vehicles. If a celebrity’s fan base is very different from the endorsed brand’s customer base, the strategy can even open up entirely new markets.

Second, when done right, endorsements can help marketers make a strong statement about the performance of their products. Seeing a celebrity attach his or her name to a product can alleviate uncertainty among consumers: consciously or unconsciously, they might trust, say, Roger Federer to endorse Nike’s sports apparel line only if its products truly are of premium quality. After all, Federer would be at risk of damaging his reputation if his outfit was somehow preventing him from playing his best (or cramping his style in other ways).

Third, aligning themselves with a celebrity can help marketers convey important information about what differentiates their brand from their competitors’ brands. In a case study  conducted on Sharapova, It was learnt that Canon's reason for turning to Maria Sharapova was her reputation as someone who plays aggressively but with precision, and who has a sense of style -- exactly the kinds of attributes it hoped to emphasize in marketing its line of Power Shot cameras.

3. The most sought-after endorsers are increasingly focused on their own problems

For all the benefits that they provide, the most in-demand endorsers – the true superstars in the entertainment economy – seem increasingly interested in solving their own problems, too. With that I mean that, in my research, I come across more and more examples of powerful stars structuring their alliances in such a way that they put their business objectives first.

A good example is Jay-Z’s partnership with Microsoft a few years ago. Far from a traditional endorsement, it was designed primarily to help Jay-Z sell his memoir, Decoded. In return for an affiliation with Jay-Z, Microsoft made its search and maps technology available to help the star stage one of the most innovative releases the publishing industry had ever seen, and a $2 million payment from the technology giant ensured that Jay-Z nor his publisher had to shoulder any of the cost.

More recently, his wife Beyoncé’s $50-million partnership with Pepsi looks a bit more like a traditional endorsement agreement, but it too has some unusual elements. It covers support for the singer’s chosen “creative projects,” for instance. Don’t be surprised if many of those will coincide with the launch her much-anticipated new album; she will know that a big marketing push from Pepsi could really drive sales for the album. And with all the pressures on revenues in the music industry, Beyoncé and her record label will sign up all the help they can get.

There’s the rub for companies hiring endorsers – increasingly, they will have to find ways to marry their business objectives with those of their star endorsers. Not an easy task at all, but one that might be needed to continue to win the services of the most powerful entertainers.

I'll be discussing more examples from the world of entertainment in future posts, so feel free to follow if you'd like to read more. And I welcome your thoughts.

The Six Deadly Sins of Leadership

Being a leader is perhaps the hardest challenge any of us will ever face. No matter how long we work at it, practicing the right behaviours is a never-ending task. Knowing – and avoiding – the wrong ones is too. Thus, we offer the following six common leadership pitfalls:

1. Not Giving Self-Confidence its Due.

Self-confidence is the lifeblood of success. When people have it, they’re bold. They try new things, offer ideas, exude positive energy, and cooperate with their colleagues instead of surreptitiously attempting to bring them down. When they lack self-confidence, it’s just the opposite. People cower. They plod. And they spread negativity with every word and gesture.

But all too often leaders ignore (or neglect) this very basic fact of the human condition. Why is anyone’s guess. Perhaps they just don’t understand that it is part of their job to instill self-confidence in their people. It may even be said that it’s their first job. You cannot unleash the creative power of individuals who doubt themselves.

Fortunately, some people seem to be born with self-confidence. Others gain it from life and work experience and come to a company fully loaded. Regardless, leaders can never stop pouring self-confidence into their teams. The ways to do so are myriad. Make sure goals are challenging – but achievable. Give effusive positive feedback. Remind your direct reports of what they do right.

We’re not saying that leaders should blindly extol and exalt. People know when they’re being gamed. But good leaders work relentlessly to find ways to instill self-confidence in those around them. They know it’s the gift that never stops giving.

2. Muzzling Voice.

Perhaps the most frustrating way that leaders underperform is by over-talking. That is, they act like know-it-alls. They can tell you how the world works, what corporate is thinking, how it will backfire if you try this or that, and why you can’t possibly change the product one iota. Sometimes such blowhards get their swagger from a few positive experiences, but usually they’re just victims of their own destructive personalities.

Ultimately, the company ends up being a victim too, because know-it-alls aren’t just insufferable, they’re dangerous. They don’t listen, and that deafness makes it very hard for new ideas to get debated, expanded upon, or improved. No single person, no matter how smart, can take a business to its apex. For that, you need every voice to be heard.

3. Acting Phony.

Can you spot a phony? Of course you can – and so can your people. Indeed, if there is one widespread human capability, it is sniffing out someone who is putting on airs, pretending to be who they’re not, or just keeping their real self hidden. Yet too many leaders spend way too much time creating personas that put a wall between them and their employees. What a waste.

Because authenticity is what makes people love you. Visibly grappling with tough problems, sweating the details, laughing, and caring – those are the activities that make people respond and feel engaged with what you’re saying. Sure, some people will tell you that being mysterious grants you power as a leader. In reality, all it generates is fear. And who wants to motivate that way?

Now, obviously, authenticity is unattractive if it’s coupled with immaturity or an overdose of informality. And organizations generally don’t like people who are too emotionally unbounded – i.e. so real that all their feelings are exposed. They tend to tamp that kind of intensity down a bit. And that’s not a bad thing, as work is work and, more than at home, allows us to maintain some privacy.

But don’t let convention wring all the authenticity out of you, especially as you climb the ladder. In time, humanity always wins. Your team and bosses come to know who you are in your soul, what kind of people you attract and what kind of performance you want from everyone. Your realness will make you accessible; you will connect and you will inspire. You will lead.

4. Lacking the Guts to Differentiate.

You only have to be in business a few weeks to know that not all investment opportunities are created equal. But some leaders can’t face that reality, and so they sprinkle their resources like cheese on a pizza, a little bit everywhere.

As a result, promising growth opportunities too often don’t get the outsized infusions of cash and people they need. If they did, someone might get offended during the resource allocation process. Someone – as in the manager of a weak business or the sponsor of a dubious investment proposal.

But leaders who don’t differentiate do the most damage when it comes to people. Unwilling to deliver candid, rigorous performance reviews, they give every employee the same kind of bland, mushy, “nice job” sign-off. Then, when rewards are doled out, they give star performers little more than the laggards. Now, you can call this egalitarian approach kind, or fair – as these lousy leaders usually do – but it’s really just weakness. And when it comes to building a thriving organization where people have the chance to grow and succeed, weakness just doesn’t cut it.


5. Fixation on Results at the Expense of Values.

Everyone knows that leaders deliver. Oratory and inspiration without results equal…well, a whole lot of nothing. But leaders are committing a real dereliction of duties if all they care about are the numbers. They also have to care about how those numbers came to be. Were the right behaviors practiced? Was the company’s culture of integrity honored? Were people taken care of properly? Was the law obeyed, in both letter and spirit?

Values are a funny thing in business. Companies love to talk about them. They love to hang them up on plaques in the lobby and boast about them to potential hires and customers. But they’re meaningless if leaders don’t live and breathe them. Sometimes that can take courage. It can mean letting go of a top performer who’s a brute to his colleagues, or not promoting a star who doesn’t share her best ideas with the team. That’s hard.

And yet if you’re a leader, this is a sin you cannot squint away. When you nail your results, make sure you can also report back to a crowded room: We did this the right way, according to our values.

6. Skipping the Fun Part

What is it about celebrating that makes managers so nervous? Maybe throwing a party doesn’t seem professional, or it makes people worry that they won’t look serious to the powers that be, or that, if things get too happy in the office, people will stop working their tails off.

Whatever the reason, too many leaders don’t celebrate enough. To be clear here, we do not define celebrating as conducting one of those stilted little company-orchestrated events that everyone hates, in which the whole team is marched out to a local restaurant for an evening of forced merriment when they’d rather be home. We’re talking about sending a team to Disney World with their families, or giving each team member tickets to a show or a movie, or handing each member of the team a new iPod.

What a lost opportunity. Celebrating makes people feel like winners and creates an atmosphere of recognition and positive energy. Imagine a team winning the World Series without champagne spraying everywhere. You can’t! And yet companies win all the time and let it go without so much as a high-five.

Work is too much a part of life not to recognize the moments of achievement. Grab as many as you can. Make a big deal out of them.

That’s part of a leader’s job too – the fun part.