In This Issue:

• Tips for New Managers
• Profile
• Woman Talk
• Managing Diversity
• Management Tip of the Month
• Book Nook
• Ethics Dilemma

LEADING EDGE SEMINARS

For information on "Driving Results with Diversity" to be held January 10, 2008 in Santa Clara, CA click here.

PROFILE:
Barbara Krause

Each month we will profile someone in the business, non-profit or government sector who has shown superior leadership or management skills. If you know someone who should be profiled, please send the person's name, title, organization and contact information to edgeline.

NAME: Barbara Krause
TITLE: Partner
COMPANY: Krause Taylor Associates, San Jose, CA

Barbara Krause is an established Silicon Valley civic and business leader. She first served as chief of staff for San Jose Mayor Janet Gray Hayes, later moving to Apple as vice president of corporate communications at Apple. In the past decade, her public relations firm has achieved prominence in assisting young technology companies.

What is most exciting about your current role?
Working with young companies who have innovative new technologies and are usually ahead of the trends. They are spotting opportunities ahead of the market and it’s exciting to see what is on the horizon.

It’s also exciting to have founded a small company and contribute to the lives of our employees with a regular paycheck and a good place to work.

What is your biggest challenge?
Managing client expectations. We need to walk a fine line showing support and confidence in them and their products versus giving realistic assessments of how much visibility they can reasonably expect.

Describe someone who is a hero to you, or mentor or role model?
I have a friend in a leadership role at another company. She is a clear thinker and a straight shooter, yet retains a sense of humor. Sometimes when I’m in a sticky situation, I think, “What would she do? How would she handle this?”

Another model is my former employer, Janet Gray Hayes, who was mayor of San Jose. She was able to stick to the heart of the matter at hand and ignore the sometimes condescending comments people would make. She just plowed forward and didn’t allow her feelings to get hurt.

What two or three traits or qualities will leaders need to be successful in the future?
Integrity: Without integrity, you have no credibility
Persistence: No matter how weary you get, a leader must still keep leading, doing and motivating.

What personal strengths have led to your success?
- Ability to build trusting relationships with clients – anticipating their needs, building a foundation of trust and keeping confidences has served me well throughout my career
- Ability to encourage and affirm. I’ve been told that I help people achieve their potential because I believe in them and affirm their worth.

Tell us about your outside community interests, hobbies and activities.
I like to travel, visit historical places, hike, read and spend time with my family. I get involved in local political campaigns.

What are three tips you would offer to aspiring managers and leaders?
- Develop a network of people whom you consider friends, and can call on for advice, connections and help. Keep up with people’s lives. Don’t burn bridges.

- Engage fully in your chosen market or field. You need to really understand the market, its upcoming trends and know whom the influencers are in order to participate and lead.

- Exceed expectations. Do more than is required, anticipate needs and offer to take on more responsibility (but be SURE you can handle it).

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Barbara Krause

Born: May 9th in Bethesda, Maryland

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Minor: Political Science

Other companies where you've worked: Apple, Atari, City of San Jose Mayor’s and the Office of Assembly Majority Consultants, California State Legislature

Family members: Husband, Tom; son Chris, and daughter Emily

Favorite quote: “Don’t let your limitations define your future”

Favorite book: “Freakonomics” by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubnerand and “The Tipping Point “ by Malcolm Gladwell

Movie you found inspirational on the topic of leadership: “Pursuit of Happyness”

Management Tip: Workplace Humor

Humor is a part of life and work. It can be a great constructive force, lowering tension and contributing to both joy and belonging on a team. A story with universal appeal that unites people rather than puts down people or groups is generally safe, as is self-humor. (Your blunders are always endearing.) Beware! Humor can be used destructively. Just say “no” to sarcastic humor, or to using jokes to deliver negative messages. If there’s a conflict, say what you mean directly. Finally, any humor that diminishes or disrespects individuals or groups is out of bounds.

—Rebecca Kuiken

 

Tips for New Supervisors

By Larry Olmstead

Being a new supervisor has similarities to being a first-time parent. Generally, no one has trained you for the role. You find it is harder than it looks. There’s a lot about it that nobody bothered to tell you. And the days of thinking only about “me” are over.

One other similarity – it can be a richly rewarding experience.

Here are some tips to ease the transition:

Set clear expectations: Supervision becomes much easier when you and your subordinates share the same vision of goals and performance expectations. Whether assigning specific tasks or longer-term initiatives, take the time to sit with employees and make sure you’re on the same page. Document those discussions as appropriate.

Deliver on your promises – to your subordinates, to your boss, to others in the organization and to customers. Don’t make a promise unless you are certain you can deliver.

Be conscious of what you project: Whether you like it or not, all eyes now are on you. Your employees and others will scrutinize how you dress, what you say and whom you spend time with in the organization. Don’t let that knowledge paralyze you. Turn it to your advantage by making sure your attire, words and actions convey the leadership impression you are trying to establish. Above all, be conscious of your demeanor at work. If you look downcast, depressed or distracted, your whole work unit will soon take on those characteristics. Conversely, if you are constructive and upbeat, your people will adopt those traits as well.

Manage “up” and “sideways:” You will likely find that supervising your employees is the “easy” part – you have some control over their activities and motivation. It’s equally important to establish strong relationships with your boss and peers, who collectively influence your access to resources and help to determine whether you have the stature to rise in the organization. Don’t fall into a “silo” mentality. Maintain ongoing dialogue with those colleagues and be seen as someone who will help them achieve their own goals and objectives.

The Brower Rule: Wil Brower, a North Carolina-based consultant, counseled my training classes: “If you don’t want to manage people’s problems, don’t become a manager.” Many people take promotions because they want more influence over a product or a process. In fact, the supervisor’s most important impact is on people — and those people inevitably bring problems that need to be solved. If you try to duck the people-problem-solving role, you will fail.

It’s about them: At Knight Ridder, my former company, a training manual wisely counseled new supervisors: “When your people are successful, you will be recognized as a successful manager. If your people fail, you will also fail, regardless of your individual skills and talent.”

Emphasis added. Take heed.

Larry Olmstead is president and executive consultant of Leading Edge Associates.

 

WOMAN TALK: Develop Your Entrepreneurial Leadership

By Dinah Eng

When Martha Mertz was asked to join the Lansing Michigan Regional Chamber of Commerce in the 1980s, she discovered she was the only woman on the board. When she nominated two other women for the group, she was told these women weren’t leaders because they weren’t in top spots in their companies.

“I viewed a leader as someone influential in her field who was making a difference in the community, not leadership as a title or label,” says Mertz, owner of Mayhood/Mertz Investments, Inc., a development and brokerage firm specializing in commercial and investment real estate holdings in Sedona, Ariz.

That vision led Mertz to found Athena International, an organization that supports, honors and helps to develop women leaders through mentoring and networking activities.

One of its noted efforts is AthenaPowerLink®, a one-year mentoring program that links a woman business owner with a volunteer advisory panel. The panel lends expertise in everything from networking skills to how to achieve access to capital.

Mertz offers her own sage advice for women who are launching their own entrepreneurial ventures:

- “The first and most important thing an entrepreneur needs is to know yourself,” Mertz says. “Know your values and display authenticity because your business reflect who you are, and people will see your values. You can’t deal with difficult moments in business without this self-knowledge.”

- Set goals, and pay attention to them. “Envision what success would look like, way out there in the future,” Mertz says. “Thoughts have power, and if you can project your vision, circumstances come along to help you. If you’re rigidly tied to a strategy, you could miss the opportunities.”

- Pay attention to the people you work with, your client base and the community. “It isn’t enough to be in charge and have people respond to your wishes,” Mertz says. “Everyone’s part of a team that you, as owner, rely upon. The more you respect them, the more they will give their heart and soul to your vision. Invest in deep, meaningful relationships with the people around you.”

- Give back. “The more successful a business becomes, the more important it is to give back to the community, so that it becomes a circle of energy,” Mertz says. “Ask yourself, what kind of legacy can I leave to this community?”

- Along the way, celebrate your milestones. “Celebrate and acknowledge how far you’ve come, even if you’re weighed down by reports and budgets,” Mertz says. “Realize you’re in the middle of the dream you’ve wanted to live.”

MANAGING DIVERSITY: Proposed Bill Protects Gays in the Workplace

By Jacqui Love Marshall

On November 7th, the “Employment Non-Discrimination act” [ENDA] bill to protect gay, lesbian and bi-sexual employees from discrimination passed the House of Representatives, after Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-Wisconsin) amendment to include protections for transgender employees was debated but not voted on.

While the bill would not force employers to offer benefits to same-sex partners, it does open the door for local and state bodies to do so. Churches and the military would be exempt. Current federal law prevents workplace discrimination based on race, gender, religion, national origin, or disability.

While some leaders were resigned to excluding transgender people to insure the bill’s passage, others were adamant that all gay workers be included. Rep. Barney Frank, one of two openly gay Congressional members said: "Politically, the notion that you don't do anything until you can do everything is self-defeating." Others disagreed: “We are one community, and we demand protections for all of us, and nothing else will suffice," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

“Transgender" describes persons who: 1) identify as a gender different than their biological sex, 2) persons who have surgically changed their gender or plan to do so, 3) persons whose gender was not clearly distinguished by their genitalia at birth, and 4) persons whose external gender expression is different from their biological sex e.g. cross-dressers.

To date, 19 states and the District of Columbia have laws against sexual orientation discrimination. However, only nine states (and the District of Columbia) specifically protect transgender people: New Jersey, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New Mexico, California, Illinois, Maine, Hawaii, Washington. By January 2008, similar laws also will be in effect in Iowa, Vermont, Colorado and Oregon.
Within the U.S. corporate world, 87 percent of the top Fortune 500 companies provide protection from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Transgender people are almost always included in corporate definitions of sexual orientation.

Diversity Inc. named the following companies as the Top Ten best workplaces for GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) employees: Xerox, JP Morgan Chase, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Bank of America, Ernst & Young, SunTrust Banks, Deloitte, Cingular Wireless and Safeco.

Whether your company does or does not currently address GLBT issues, now is the time to get on the pro-active side of change:

- Revisit your nondiscrimination policies with regard to GLBTs.

- Include gender identity and awareness in your workplace practices and diversity training.

- Form a GLBT affinity group to help interpret and implement workplace changes due to potential legislative actions.

- If your company has included “transgender” in your policies but has limited experience with related workplace issues, now is the time get clarity about what practices for transgender employees would mean.

- Monitor the ENDA legislative process and anticipate the impact on your company.

 

BOOK NOOK

ETHICS DILEMMA: Honest Blogging

Jerry Ceppos will answer questions about ethical issues every month. Along with two others, he received the first Ethics in Journalism Award of the Society of Professional Journalists. Write Jerry at jerryc@leadingedgeassociates.net .Tell him if you don't want your name used.

Q. I'm no journalist, but I started a blog about being a mom. Suddenly I'm receiving all sorts of free products — car seats, bottles, other things —and want to write about them. Are there any pitfalls?

A. Whether or not you count yourself as a journalist, the world does. You're a "citizen journalist" and your readers have certain expectations even if they might have trouble articulating them.

One of those expectations is that your evaluation of products will be honest and objective. I'd prefer that you not accept free products. But I understand that you're not a mainstream publication that can spend thousands on products to test. So, some tips: Let all manufacturers in a certain field know that you're testing products so that you have a fair range of, say, car seats, to evaluate. Remember that disclosure can make up for a multitude of sins. Be sure that every reader knows that these products came to you without cost. Finally, consider returning them after testing them so that you're not really being bought off — and tell your readers that, too.

 

Edgeline is published the second Tuesday of each month by Leading Edge Associates, a consulting firm engaged in leadership and management training, organizational change, executive coaching, and strategic diversity. Rebecca Kuiken, managing editor of Edgeline, can be reached at (408) 960-9472 or rebeccak@leadingedgeassociates.net..