Two Leadership Lessons from Internet Marketing

Dear Managers and Leaders!

Nowadays, I’m studying the principles of Internet Marketing quite seriously so that I can start advertizing my management consulting business effectively on the Internet and reach more prospects. There are two main things that strike me every time I look into the world of Internet Marketing that relates to leadership.

The first one is the power of money and success as extremely strong forces to create a following. The world of Internet Marketing is a world of gurus. You see all these guys who have made millions on the Internet kindly telling you that they will tell you all their secrets so that you can replicate their success. I must admit that looking at these rich guys can become addictive. It is a bit like buying a lottery ticket. “Buy this package from this guru and you will become as rich as him in no time!” This is what most of these people are trying to make you believe:  Internet Marketing is the fast lane to easy money and these gurus are there to testify that it is possible.

Relating these successful gurus to leadership, it tells me that success is a really powerful force to create a following. These Internet gurus create trust by showing that they are highly successful making money on the Internet. No one would trust an Internet teacher that cannot show some previous success. Similarly, if you are a leader and you cannot show that you have been successful in the past, then you will have a hard time convincing people that they should follow you. This is what someone goes through when hired directly in a leadership position. He has to create trust before people start following him willingly. The early wins of Michael Watkins (in The First 90 Days) are exactly there to show your new followers that they can trust you. Once you built your portfolio of success stories, you can rest assured that people will follow you more easily.

The second thing that strikes me when I look at Internet Marketing is the fact that most people fail to succeed in starting an Internet business. They say that most people fail because they simply do nothing or too little. You then see all these gurus yelling at people that they must do something if they ever want to win. I believe most people hope that they will get easy money, but they are not ready to spend the time to actually get to a real return on investment and prosper. Another possible reason for their failure is that people are paralyzed by the amount of things they need to learn. They lack the vision of what needs to be done to really succeed. So they try for a while and then they give up before things start to work.

This relates quite well with the principles of leadership that I’ve been discussing in the “6 Steps to Leadership” mini-course (you can sign up at the right of this post if you are interested by the mini-course). To succeed in an enterprise, you need to create a vision of where you need to go, then you need to create a realistic plan to realize that vision, and then you need to implement the plan. If you do not have the vision in the first place, then it will be very difficult to create a plan and then implement it. I think the people on the internet have a vision of becoming rich, but they lack the vision of what the job of an Internet Marketer is. They want money, but they have no clue what it entails.

I think it also links to the first three habits of Steven Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People). These habits are: be proactive, begin with the end in mind, and put first things first. If these private victory habits were mastered by the Internet Marketing apprentices, they would have a better chance of succeeding.

What about you dear leader? Do you have a good portfolio of successes to easily create a following? Do you have a good vision of where you are going and a plan to achieve that vision?

Until next time,

Remi Cote

PS: If you are interested by these postings and would like to learn more about what I can do to help you or your team succeed, then please visit InnovaChron or contact me directly at
Remi Cote .

The First 90 Days - Final Take

Dear Managers and Leaders!

Today, we complete the analysis of the excellent book “The First 90 Days” by Michael Watkins. It is a book I particularly liked and I want to share my thoughts about the book with you. Today, we close by looking at two more aspects of leadership transitions, the topic of the book, in more details.

Transitioning into a new leadership role is an uphill credibility battle. You have to become credible if you want to gain trust from the people on your team. Without that credibility, your leadership will never be effective!

So how can you gain credibility as a new leader? According to Watkins, news leaders will be seen as more credible when they exhibit the following traits:

• Demanding but able to be satisfied – You have to press people to make realistic commitments, but if you are never satisfied, you’ll sap people’s motivation.
  
• Accessible but not too familiar – You have to be approachable, but in a way that preserves your authority.
  
• Decisive but judicious – Take charge, but do not jump too quickly into decisions that the team is not ready to handle.
  
• Focused but flexible – Zero in on issues, but make sure that you consult others and encourage input.
  
• Active without causing commotion – Make things happen, but avoid pushing people to burnout!
  
• Willing to make tough calls but humane – Show that you can make tough calls, but ensure they will be perceived as fair.
  

Note that I feel the above also applies to well establish leaders, not only to transitioning leaders. If you are leading a team and you are not seen as having the above qualities, chances are that your team does not see you as a credible leader that they really want to follow!

One of the best ways to build credibility is to secure a few early wins. This is the second element of Watkins’ book. Improving a few aspects of your business in short order will gain you the trust of your followers and give a sense of security to your new boss as well. What could be these early wins?

Some easy early wins can be gained by having an impact on the quality of life of your team. Try to remove minor but persistant irritants in your new organization. For instance, cut out redundant meetings, bring in tools for team collaboration, improve their equipment problems, or improve relationships with suppliers.

Second, look at your A-Items (see the previous post) and identify good, impactful, achievable first steps. Start to implement those and show that you are making progress in the right direction.

Note that your early wins need to matter both to your team AND to your boss. You need to choose your first actions to matter to both so that you can win in multiple dimensions.

This concludes my brief look at Watkins’ book “The First 90 Days”. I hope what I highlighted here has shown you the value of having a structured approach to leadership transition. Too often, organizations handle leadership transitions as sink-or-swim event, providing absolutely no support or training whatsoever. This often leads to great potential leaders leaving companies or worst, being fired because of a few mistakes made during a transition. This is terrible! Watkins really sold me on the importance of supporting leaders as they transition into new roles. This is essential.

What about you, dear leaders? Do you believe in the sink-or-swim model of leadership transition? Does your organization help you during your career transitions?

Until next time,

Remi Cote

Promote Yourself!

Dear Managers and Leaders!

Today, we continue the analysis of the excellent book “The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Level” by Michael Watkins. It is a book I particularly liked and I want to share my thoughts about the book with you. Today, we will look at two aspects of leadership transitions, the topic of the book, in more details.

Promote Yourself

The first thing that the book teaches you is that when you are in a leadership transition, you must promote yourself. That does not mean that you have to show only your good side or publicize your past successes. It rather means that what made you successful in your previous role and got you your promotion will not necessarily make you successful in your new position. You have to give yourself a promotion, let go of the past, and turn your attention to what must be done to succeed in your new role.

First, you need to ensure that you really move mentally from your previous position to your new position. Note that this is tough to do. You were likely in a very comfortable position before you got this new job. You were probably successful. Now, you are in a position you do not understand fully, with different goals, potentially a different team, and brand new challenges. The boat is rocking. The secret here is to accept that the boat will be rocking for a while. It will be tough for some times, until you get accustomed to your new role. If you do not accept that fact and go back to what you feel secure doing (your previous role), you are doomed to fail!

Second, you need to learn what you need to learn. The first thing that you have to understand is your new role. What will it take to be successful in that new role? What does that mean to be at the level of management you’re at now? An excellent book to find answers to these questions is “The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company” by Charan, Drotter, and Noel. You can also talk to your new boss to understand what he expects from you.

Once you understand better what is required of you in your new job, you need to assess your strengths and weaknesses. What do you already possess to help you be successful in your new role? What are the areas where you need to learn more or improve? Those are two fundamental questions to answer really early in the transition process. Amongst those weaknesses, you may even have blind spots, unknown areas where you do not have prior experience with. Those are the ones you will need to watch out for the most, to make sure that you do not forget about these areas of the business. They are also areas where you will need to expedite your learning to ensure you improve quickly in those areas.

Define Your A-Items

Another concept that Watkins promote is the establishment of what he calls A-Items. Those items are general goals that you want to meet as you start leading the group. An example would be “increase customer satisfaction by 60% in one year”. Those goals must be related to the critical areas in your organization that demand attention as well as those that offer the greatest opportunities to improve your new business.

Defining a small number of A-Items will ensure that you stay focused and that your actions will be focused in the right direction. Without these over-arching goals, you might fall into the trap of trying to do everything at once or to forget to work on improving the business.

An important point that Watkins also promote in his book is the necessity to secure early wins during a leadership transition. Defining your A-Items allows you to secure your early wins in the direction you want to develop your business.

And you, dear leader, even if you are not in the middle of a leadership transition, do you know what your strengths and weaknesses are in your current role? Do you have a clear list of A-Items to direct your actions on a day-to-day basis?

Until next time,

Remi Cote