Every employee wants their voice to be heard, to feel valued and to have ownership in the decision-making process. The leaders who understand this and empower their employees to be active contributors will set themselves apart with better decision-making and higher employee retention.
A focused and disciplined approach to capital budgeting is to classify investment projects into five categories: investment in safety and environmental stewardship, repair of buildings and equipment, information technology, optional profit improvement and expansion of current businesses and investment in new businesses. Each has its own investment criterion.
The lessons of Chernobyl for all political and business leaders are the same lessons relearned over and over again after many disasters and scandals. Always face the brutal facts of reality.
How can you rise above destructive office politics? Meet your commitments to others. Build trust with your peers. Develop alliances. Keep your adversaries close. Build relationship capital. Most importantly, do your job and achieve results, and let those results and your reputation speak for themselves.
“Lose money for the firm, and I will be understanding. Lose a shred of reputation for the firm, and I will be ruthless.”
Emotional intelligence is recognized as a key leadership trait. EQ is also important to the success of everyone who interacts with people, regardless of their position within an organization.
Business leaders will never face the challenges of Zelensky. However, the traits needed to inspire your organization are the same: superb communication skills, inner fortitude and a laser focus on the challenge. With these traits, you can rally your organization to accomplish goals thought to be unachievable.
“A toxic corporate culture is by far the strongest predictor of industry-adjusted attrition and is 10 times more important than compensation in predicting turnover …. Toxic cultures include … workers feeling disrespected and unethical behavior.” Ensure your corporate culture is not toxic.
In the words of renowned Brazilian novelist, Paulo Coelho, “If you want to be successful, you must respect one rule: Never lie to yourself.” Leaders, remember to listen to your experts, establish a challenge culture and value the lone wolf within your organization.
After the Elizabeth Holmes guilty verdict, venture capitalist Greg Gretsch, tweeted, “Ambition, drive, vision and optimism are all a part of the Silicon Valley ethos. Outright lies and deceit are not. Fraud is fraud.”
Quoting Sir Richard Branson: “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” Garg did not understand this principle. CEOs need to treat employees with dignity and respect.
Every business school is responsible for teaching future leaders the importance of ethics, integrity and the right tone at the top. It’s ironic that the Fox Business School rankings scandal could be a business school case study.
