powerup brilliance™ - new book for innovation leaders to sharpen adaptive can-do thinking and...

© 2013 • Dr Merom Klein & Dr Louise Yochee Klein • www.courageinstitute.org • Tel (USA): +1-215-529-8918

Merom Klein PhD &Louise Yochee Klein PsyD

Power UPBrilliance

Lead fromthe Middle

with Courage

Executive summary

Available for purchase @ amazon.com

Brilliance. Initiative. Foresight. When an IBM survey asked 1500 CEOs what they need to prosper in tough times, these were the qualities they put at the top of their lists. To invent breakthrough game-changing solutions. Overcome adversity. Thrive in uncertainty. Take initiative.

Most CEOs said such brilliance is “in short supply” — despite all they have invested in talent management, connectivity, flat agile structures, technology. We agree. But not because they lack the capacity for brilliance. What they often lack is the ability to flip the switch and convert potential into brilliance and brilliance into mobilization, action and results.

Courage flips the switch. To PowerUP Brilliance.We’ve all been there. When an influential board member dismisses a hot idea. When charge-forward personalities discredit holdouts and their risk assessments. When someone asks for input and teammates sit in stunned silence watching the political winds or waiting for the big boss to speak. When new technology, new systems and new structures make it harder, not easier to get all the special interests aligned. When there are no easy or straightforward answers, given the complexities and turbulence your enterprise faces.

5 Courage Activators give leaders a roadmap to power up brilliance when they face these adversities. To overcome fear and complacency. To shape the culture, rather than allowing dysfunctions in the culture to shape them — one conversation, videoconference, product team or investor meeting at a time. To wrestle down key issues and find the best, not the easy or obvious, answers.

© 2013. www.courageinstitute.org • Tel: Israel: +972-4-3721008 - USA: +1-215-529-8918 - Canada: +1-819-303-0967 • UK: +44-1223-790227 International

קוראגʻ בינלאומי

5 Courage Activators PowerUP Brilliance

DEEP DIVE Open

CANDOUR Offenheit • Candeur

פתיחות

SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY RISK to invest in

someone else’s success Fidelite • Verpflichtung

מחויבות

ORDER OF THE WEST Plan, co-ordinate & adhere to RIGOUR Disziplin

משמעת

SPIRIT OF THE EAST

Excitement, engagement

& hopeful WILL

Volonte התלהבות

NORTH STAR Lofty, noble awesome

PURPOSE Intention • מכוונות

Dr Merom Klein and Dr Louise Yochee Klein lead Courage International, a global innovation and strategy execution consultancy that equips senior executives to be effective sponsors of innovation initiatives — and equips mid-level leaders to orchestrate breakthrough innovation with matrix structures and cross-functional teams. Merom and Louise Yochee are business psychologists with 25+ years of experience equipping large corporations, agencies and entrepreneurial teams to accelerate innovation and lead transformational change. They are known for leadership workshops and coaching that jump-start innovation, get initiatives unstuck and deliver quick wins and rapid ROI, and for diversity dialogues that tap cultural, personality, generational, gender, cross-functional and other differences for creative value.

© 2013 • Dr Merom Klein and Dr Louise (Yochee) Klein • www.courageinstitute.org • Tel (USA): +1-215-529-8918

PoweringUP Brilliance with the holdouts who are stuck in a cycle of fear and reluctance, security and complacency? Now chart the trendline. If you could power up even 200 or 300 of these cafeteria conversations to be ennobling and uplifting, rather than enabling the status quo, how much faster could your innovation initiatives get traction? If you could power up brilliance in just 500 of these moments of truth in task forces and conference calls, planning meetings and dress rehearsals, where would that take you?

Yael: A case in point.Yael, the new Medical Liaison, joined a product launch team. After a few days getting herself up to speed, Yael saw flaws in the team’s launch strategy. “Unless our new drug is administered properly, it will not help patients with an at-risk profile — and may actually make them sicker,” Yael warned her Franchise Managing Director. “We need a plan for physicians to identify and manage patients who have this profile, so the drug works as it should. Without such a plan, health plans will be reluctant to keep our drug on formulary.”

The Commercial VP, himself a physician, ridiculed Yael and was incensed that the Franchise MD was listening to her. “We already dealt with this issue,” he said indignantly, “There is no reason to re-cover old ground, second-guess our key opinion leaders and regulatory advisors, or complicate our launch just to appease a new doctor who is grandstanding.” The Finance Director also was put off by Yael’s recommendations, warning that her risk-mitigation plan could scale back their sales projections and have a negative impact on the net present value of the asset and on the company’s stock price.

As the Franchise MD, we are sure you’d like luminaries like Yael to have the political savvy to see when a Big AHA! is

Middle-out, not top-downImagine: As the CEO, you take the podium and announce a bold new direction, new innovation initiatives and a new organization structure to take the enterprise forward. The luminaries who hear your message are inspired. In the Q&A, their questions are, “How will this work? When do we start? How can we help?”

But the holdouts are silent. Your “call to action” rocked their world. It threatened the security of their boxes and fiefdoms, their silos and authority. You raised the bar to a level that is unprecedented, unreasonable and out of reach, unless they break free of their old paradigms. They don’t “get it.”

Fast forward to the cafeteria. A luminary sits down with a few holdouts. One of the holdouts has a higher rank, more status and lots of clout. The holdout explains why your vision will never work. How should your luminary respond?

In 1000 moments of truth like this, your call for “brilliance” can be powered up and amplified — or not. If your luminaries see themselves stuck in a hierarchy trap and respect the chain of command and the hegemony of higher-status team members, they’ll settle into a norm of playing it safe, waiting for permission, following directions and being conflict-averse and overtly “nice.” If they continue to take direction from the top-down, you don’t need a PhD in business psychology to plot the trajectory and see where your bold vision is headed.

But suppose your luminaries see themselves as “points of light” in the middle of an interconnected network. Suppose they see themselves as your emissaries, responsible for

going to stir up a controversy. And have the finesse to Power UP Brilliance in a cross-functional team, rather than throw down the gauntlet and make others defensive. If they don’t yet have these skills, of course, we can help.

But, even with more political savvy and finesse, luminaries like Yael are going to stir the pot and make some waves — if they step in, reach out, sound off and say, “We can do better.”

Knowing your placeIf you’re the CEO or Franchise MD, you’ll be asked to intervene when someone (like Yael) thinks she is generating “luminous efficiency” to shed light on an enterprise-critical issue — but gives off too much residual heat. An Orchestrator, like a Commercial VP, may complain that the controversy is slowing down the launch, putting sand in the gears, jeopardizing the ROIC that was expected when the board approved the investment in an innovation like this new drug therapy. Or Yael may complain that it’s too hard for a young dark-skinned non-Anglo woman to be heard as an Advisor.

To PowerUP Brilliance, Sponsors may need to step back and deliberately not intervene. Instead of deciding, they need to clarify outcomes, deliverables, accountabilities. Rather than enabling either-or trade-offs or compromises, Sponsors need to ennoble Orchestrators to optimize short term launch objectives as well as long-term liability and reputation risks, customer retention as well as customer acquisition, top line revenue and bottom-line profit. And hold them accountable for the way they use divergent perspectives like Yael’s, not just for neutralizing or overpowering the opposition.



How do luminaries see their world?

Think less like this

Act more like this

SILOS & CHAINS OF COMMAND

Function heads give orders. You defer and

respect their expertise and authority

NETWORKS & MOLECULAR TEAMS

Function heads bring the best luminaries forward

to sharpen up each other’s thinking.



Decoding the matrix: What’s your role?

ORCHESTRATOR Reach out and mobilize the right players to do the right

things in right sequence, wrestle down the right issues

for the right decisions, to deliver optimal outcomes

ADVISOR Speak up to

offer the best counsel, valid data and the best ideas

EXECUTOR Step up

to adhere to plans and get them done as

well as possible

BENEFICIARY, END-USER OR ADVOCATE The customer, end-user, patient or buyer who is served by the

enterprise and their agents and advocates

SPONSOR Approve investments. Allocate capital. Approve/set contributions to enterprise-

success. Oversee accountability.

The standout’s dilemma

You are recruited for your brilliance. You let it shine. Then, the group tells you to fit in, get along and hammers you down when you’re the nail that sticks out. It’s a Catch-22 that tests your courage, if you are someone who sees things differently.


didn’t know it was so wrong.” The CEO confronted Tal. She asked, “Who’s running this deal? You or me?” Tal stared at the CEO with empty goat-eyes. The CEO repeated her question, and demanded to know why Tal did not take charge and use the best ideas, rather than saying, “Yes ma’am,” and following the CEO’s orders. Tal tried to defend himself, telling the CEO that she did not give him the authority to take those decisions. The CEO shook her head. “I have ideas. But that doesn’t mean I’m infallible. It’s your job to take charge and get this deal done — not to curry favor and put us on a track to send this deal to a competitor.”

It was here that we came in — in a PowerUP Brilliance leadership workshop for Tal and ten of his colleagues Orchestrating enterprise-critical innovation initiatives. “We’re not the problem,” Tal said, “Our CEO and her dysfunctional team should be here in this workshop.” The entire group agreed and glared at the facilitator.

1. We entered the Courage cycle with PURPOSE, setting the compass North. Rather than taking the bait and indulging an avalanche of pity-us victim-of-hierarchy complaints, we asked, “What would better look like?” and invited the innovation Orchestrators to tell us how they’d like the C-suite be more co-operative Sponsors.

2. We asked for the RISK. “Maybe they do need training,” we said, half-teasing, and asked,. “How will you train them?” Then we paused to see their reaction. It took a minute for the group to see that we expected them to lead from the middle, take charge and reshape the less-than-helpful

Conflct-prone realities in conflict-averse systemsIf you don’t have the time for your workforce — starting with your own leadership team — to get comfortable with change before they execute it, or for luminaries like Yael to back off and wait and see if their worst fears erupt into a BP-style liability, If you PowerUP Brilliance, it’s inevitable that you’ll make some sparks fly.

As the CEO, you may find yourself challenged — like Todd Wallach, CEO of Molecular Detection, whom we profile in the book. Todd was a savvy multi-cultural manager, having run businesses in the US and UK, Canada and Europe, China and Brazil. He speaks several languages. But this was his first CEO assignment running a company in Israel.

Todd describes his first management team meeting in Jerusalem as an inquisition. But instead of seeing the sharp criticisms as insubordination or sand in the gears, like Yael’s Commercial VP, Todd listened and heard his team saying, “You can do better. Give us the facts. Tell us why. Show us you’re qualified to set the goals, lobby for resources, tell us what’s enterprise-critical. And listen, we we really do know better.”

Dr William Polvino says the same thing about running a Danish/American enterprise. He tells Americans to appreciate the direct probing “say-it-like-you-see-it” style that Danes bring to scientific and business deliberations. And to smile and respond factually, when asked for proof that your logic and data are sound — rather than getting defensive.

Years ago, we worked with a Korean company that was expanding operations in China and sending Koren expats



Courage skill #2: Ennoble in sequence

DEEP DIVE Watch reactions. Ask to open CANDOUR

MAKE YOUR REQUEST Ask for the

RISK to achieve your shared PURPOSE

PLAN Define next steps & timelines with RIGOUR

ENERGIZE Build

confidence and lift WILL

SET THE COMPASS NORTH Explain WHY. Show benefits. Define the shared lofty PURPOSE

1

2

3 4 5

to run those operations. What the Korean luminaries found maddening was the absence of controversy. They complained of feeling set up to fail — by smart lieutenants who smiled and did exactly what their Orchestrators told them to do, whether or not it was correct. In cultures that are conflict averse, PoweringUP Brilliance requires leaders to increase the level of productive dynamic sharpen-up-thinking conflict — with Candor, Will and Rigor that serves the Purpose and that builds trust so there’s more capacity to Risk.

We’ve worked with a number of Chinese leaders who have recognized, like Todd, Bill and our Korean clients, that we need to embrace conflict-prone realities in order to Power UP Brilliance. Not that we can’t do it with finesse and respect for cultural and personality differences. We can. But, to support Orchestrators who are transitioning from a Silos/Chains of Command to a Networks/Molecular Teams view of the world, Sponsors can issue a Credo and statement of Core Values that says, “We value your best thinking. Bring it on.” One CEO did this by hanging pictures of elephants in the main Conference Room and declaring, “This is the place, behind closed doors, where we deal with the elephants in the room.”

Tal: Another case in pointAs a Business Development Director, Tal was orchestrating a complex deal, in-licensing a clean energy innovation that was co-owned by a venture group, a nervous inventor/entrepreneur and an academic institution. Tal followed his CEO’s explicit step-by-step directives. But the CEO was wrong. When the deal nearly came apart, the firm’s outside advisor called the CEO. “Why did Tal make such a huge mistake?” the advisor asked the CEO. “I explained why the tactics he used would never work and told him what to do instead.” The CEO admitted to the advisor, “That tactic was my idea. I’m sorry. I



Courage skill #1: Diagnose… Level 5. Champion solutions Level 4. Master solutions Level 3. Discover solutions Level 2. Wait for solutions Level 1. Blame and fight Level 0. Avoid and deny

Think more like this

Act less like this

Brilliance is a paradox

We say we want it. But we like it better when people agree with us, praise our efforts, defer to our authority. To PowerUP Brilliance, it takes Courage to have your conclusions and authority challenged — so the enterprise can profit.


up-and-coming leaders) that they’re making good progress.

From here, your program designers can craft the “what” — • innovation and process mapping activities — to look past

“what is” and re-imagine what can be• dramatizations that get your leaders up and moving,

interacting and challenging each other• simulations to make better sharper faster decisions

without letting fear, distortions, wishful thinking or “sand-in-the-gears” dilute results

• vivid cases to create moments of truth and dilemmas like the ones that real leaders in your enterprise face

• where the fun, the joy of discovery, the laughter, the camaraderie, the magic happens.

The “so what” is the reflective part of the journey. It’s where fun and activity transition into deep dialogue and personal journalling. And where rehearsal — for a pivotal presentation or a 1:1 ennobling uplifting dialogue — goes from scripting to fluency. It’s where a leader takes his or her 360-feedback and transforms it into an Individual Development Plan — and where s/he takes the results of a Courage Assessment or Engagement Survey and creates a Team Mobilization Plan.

Now what?If we’re provoked your thinking about PoweringUP Brilliance, about sharing responsibility for culture-shaping with the leaders in the middle who bring your culture to life, about moving from a blaming or victim’s perspective to take charge and about equipping leaders to be the Core Values you want to see — we now invite you to assess a group of leaders (on our website), read the book or call us and start a dialogue.

support they had been getting from the top-down.3. CANDOR was next — listening to their reasons why they

are stuck at Level 1 (Blame) or Level 2 (Wait). Then, with a few more questions, we sifted through the excuses and zeroed in on the problems that needed to be solved.

4. We lifted WILL — to ignite hope, energy, confidence and remind the Orchestrators WHY they had been chosen to lead and what made them high-potentials. Yes, they said, they were up to the challenge and ready to lead.

5. Finally RIGOR — to build robust plans to get out in front of obstacles, bridge cultural, generational, personality and other diversity dialogues, apply creative product/service innovation and process mapping techniques for breakthrough improvement and — Viola! — create lift.

How to build a culture that powers up brilliance.In any corporation, culture is a mosaic of 10,000 or more distinct sub-cultures. We may all have the same Core Values, Destination Statement or Credo on the wall. But stay in the same conference room and hand the reins to Tal, Yael or 1000 other orchestrators and you can watch the dynamics change as each meeting ends and another begins.

Yes, there are things that you can do, as the CEO or as a Franchise GM, to sound the call, align your culture wish-list with business realities and walk your talk. But shaping the culture, day after day, meeting after meeting, is a partnership. You can provide the roadmap, the oxygen and the fuel. But it’s Orchestrators like Tal, Advisors like Yael and Executors like the unnamed luminary who sat at the lunch table with Blame-and-Fight or Deny-and-Avoid colleagues who do the heavy lifting. If you invest in their success. And make it real



63 days from start-up to power-up Assess brilliance

Are innovation leaders equipped to lift reluctant partners

to Level 4 and 5 brilliance?

Kick-off (2 hours) Virtual or live call-to-action

with goals, overview and first simulation challenge. GO!!

Live workshops (½-1-½ days)

Role clarity in your matrix Mobilization maps

Diversity dialogues™ Straight talk to ennoble,

uplift, build accountability Team mobilisation to hold

innovation partners on belay Creative tension, generative mind flips, win/win solutions Simulations, decision-making and live practice exercises Application & action plans

Reinforcement & coaching Virtual or live follow-up

workshops/webinars, 1:1 or peer coaching

Innovation initiatives Apply what you learned.

Mobilize. Power up brilliance.

Set your focus Your business challenges

Your innovation imperatives

Your quick wins and rapid ROI

Your talent to develop

Your innovation learning structure

— expecting to see results in 63-80 days.It takes a village. A famous adage tells us, “Never swim alone.” It’s as true in a lake as it is when the initiative you orchestrate dives into ideas, product upgrades and new business models.

Brilliance is not a solo effort, especially when breakthrough solutions have a system-wide impact. Big opportunities have lots of many moving parts and diverse stakeholders to mobilize. Your effort to bring a newly acquired venture into alignment with the corporation’s “way of doing things” may be the final wave that swamps the boat, if you are unaware of sister departments with parallel change initiatives. We work in cross-functional teams and matrix structures not because it is easy or clear, but because it is the best way to get the right luminaries working together on the right issues at the

right time — working parallel rather than in sequence. How training, coaching and workshops can help.In workshops, coaching and team mobilization initiatives, we equip leaders to decode and navigate their matrix structures — and leave them with a roadmap to mobilize a network and imbue the members of that network with the courage to smile in the face of fear, overcome reluctance, strengthen partnerships and act. That’s the “now what” — where action learning comes back to the workplace and delivers a ROI.

As you envision a Leadership Program to PowerUP Brilliance and development the talent that has “the right stuff” to accelerate your growth, your designers should start the dialogue here — with the strategies you need to execute, the extra doses of brilliance that bring new innovations and make the difference and the ROI that will tell you (and your



Power Up Brilliance: Action learning 3. Now what

apply courage-building leadership to accelerate your

change initiative 1. What fun simulations, vivid cases and assessments to see new possibilities

2. So what feedback and skill practice

to diagnose and ennoble with more impact

Courage is special knowledge

One national leader said it’s “knowing how to fear what ought to be feared so fear does not extinguish your own brilliance — and knowing how not to fear what ought not be feared, so your brilliance ignites and does not extinguish another citizen’s brilliance.”