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Do You Know Your Team's PWR Score?

July 24, 2015 / 31:51

This episode features Randy Street and Alan Foster discussing their book, Power Score, which presents a unified theory of leadership based on three key factors: priorities, who, and relationships.

Randy explains that after interviewing over 15,000 executives, they identified these three factors as critical for successful leadership. The concept of Power Score is introduced as a way to quantify leadership effectiveness by scoring each factor on a scale of 1 to 10.

Alan elaborates on how the Power Score is calculated and emphasizes the importance of having the right people in the right roles. He notes that many leaders struggle with the 'who' aspect, which is essential for achieving organizational goals.

The discussion also covers how leaders can improve their ability to set priorities and build effective relationships within their teams. They share examples of successful leaders who excel in these areas.

Overall, the episode provides practical advice for leaders looking to enhance their effectiveness through the Power Score framework.

TL;DR

Randy Street and Alan Foster discuss their book <i>Power Score</i>, outlining a framework for effective leadership based on priorities, people, and relationships.

Episode

31:51
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our guests today are Randy Street and
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Alan Foster uh and they have just
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written a book called power score we're
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going to talk to them about that today
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uh Randy Alan thank you so much for
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joining us today it's our pleasure it's
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great to be here great Randy I'd
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probably start with the first question
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with you uh you describe power score as
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a as a grand United theory of leadership
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boiled down to a single number what
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exactly does does that
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mean so we've been on a journey for the
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last 20 years as a firm and as
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individuals U thinking about
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leadership um boards and CEOs would call
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us and say hey we're we're about to make
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a big leadership change or decision of
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some sort and we need help to figure out
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how do we get the right people so our
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our day jobs have been interviewing CEO
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candidates and uh senior leaders for
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organizations of all different shapes
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and sizes uh and each interview has been
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a 5H hour interview or so and then 15
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hours of analysis around that uh and
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over the course of the last 20 years
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we've we've interviewed over 15,000
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people and it occurred to us there's
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there's probably something to learn from
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that in terms of what what do successful
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leaders really do uh and over the last
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five years we've been digging deep into
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that data to understand it and what we
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have found is there are in fact three
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factors that drive success in leadership
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and we called the Grand unified theory
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uh very much like uh the way scientists
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describe the universe so scientists have
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been looking to figure out you know what
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is the grand unified theory of how the
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universe universe works and we figured
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if they can describe the universe surely
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we can describe leadership and in fact
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we've got these three factors that
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describe what success looks like
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absolutely so I'll turn to Alan to ask
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exactly what the power score is and how
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it's calculated and how did you come up
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with a concept what kind of research did
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you put into it
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yes so power score power is really an
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acronym the the P stands for priorities
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the W stands for Who and the r stands
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for relationships and uh as part of the
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15,000 uh executive interviews that
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we've done over the last 20 years we we
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got a phone call about uh five years ago
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from Professor Steve Kaplan and a
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colleague of his at the University of
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Chicago he said aren't you sitting on
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what's probably the world's most
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valuable database of leadership I've got
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an Army of phds uh who I'd love to pour
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over it code it and analyze the heck out
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of it I bet we could learn something um
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are you up for that we said sure and uh
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and so we did and so they've been
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kicking the tires on on what really
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makes the difference and we actually had
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a whole different theory of leadership
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when we started writing the book but it
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the data the data didn't uh match it it
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didn't pan out so we we really had to
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say like what do leaders do differently
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and what we found is is they they all go
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about accomplishing three things they
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set the right priorities they get the
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right people in the right roles the
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right who the W and then they make the
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relationships work um the the the ARA
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relationships and so what we do with our
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with with the teams and the executives
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we work with is to say on a scale of 1
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to 10 uh to what extent you have the
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right priorities give yourself a score
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out of 10 to what extent do you have the
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right who the right people in the right
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roles score out of 10 and what extent do
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the relationships work again a score out
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of 10 and you've got three numbers out
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of 10 multiply them together and you've
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got yourself a score out of a thousand
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and that's the score we've been
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calculating with uh thousands of
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Executives to find out to what extent do
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they run at full power power being
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priorities who and relationships and
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what have you found so far of uh uh when
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you talk to Executives do you find that
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of all the three variables that make up
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the power acronym uh executives are good
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at all three or are they some that are
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they are better at than others so all
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three matter it's it's something like a
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triathlon if if you can't swim you're
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not going to win the triathlon and the
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same is true with the power score PW
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andr you have to be able to do all three
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and most leaders only do one or maybe
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two of those really well uh very few
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actually think to do all three much less
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are really good at all three but the
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stati statistics are amazing those who
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do all three well are easily twice as
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successful as the average leader and
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they're 20 times more successful than
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leaders who don't do any of those three
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things which of the three which is the
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easiest for most leaders to manage and
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which element of those three do they
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have the most trouble with so the
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easiest is definitely the r
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relationships so most leadership
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theories focus on behaviors and traits
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and how you should show up as a leader
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and that's all very important in
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leadership of course
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uh and so about half 47% of the leaders
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in our data set were reasonably good at
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building the the relationships that make
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a team function on the flip side uh the
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hardest one is the W the who which is
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hiring the right people uh removing
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people shifting people around on your
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team to make sure you've got the right
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people matched to the right priorities
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only 14% of leaders were excellent at
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that which means 86% of all leaders are
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completely ignoring one of the most
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important factors of being a successful
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leader which is getting that who
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question right it's funny and uh I was
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uh at a conference last week with about
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150 CEOs and we were going through do
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you have the right priorities the right
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who the right relationships and at the
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end I say Okay a show of hands if you
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think about your score in each of those
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Dimensions the score you've given
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yourself which is the lowest which is
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pulling your overall score down the most
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and show of hands about 80% of the
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audience put up their hand for The Who
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as in like they struggle the most with
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getting the right people in the right
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roles interesting I i' come back to the
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who but let's let's start with the with
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the
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priorities uhan is are priorities the
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same as
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goals uh what's the difference well uh
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it's funny we we we had one client and
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and I said I said to the uh Chief
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Operating Officer um to what extent do
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you have the right priorities he said
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absolutely we do we we we we set goals I
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said well how many do you have and he
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said well I have
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164 and and I said you know that that
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must keep you quite busy he goes yes
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we're a very inclusive culture we're
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very bottom up we like people to set
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their own goals I mean it was a it was a
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it was a high achieving environment but
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they had no focus at all and so we find
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the best leaders are very good at
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setting priorities which actually means
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saying no to things like it's looking at
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all your potential goals and saying
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which are the three four or five that
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really matter goals really are what
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needs to happen and that's great but
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they don't really give you a sense for
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uh which ones actually tie back to your
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mission and why why they're important or
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how they relate to one another so you
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can have 164 goals no sense of priority
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a lot of diffused Focus through the
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organization so how do you think leaders
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can become better at setting priorities
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how did this leader go go about it so we
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uh you can obviously hire consultants
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for uh um millions of dollars and I'm
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sure they'll come up with a a great
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presentation we we have a slightly
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simpler way we we encourage leaders and
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Leadership teams to write what we call a
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scorecard which is to say given the
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mission and vision of what you're trying
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to do what are the five priorities and
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how do you talk about them in terms of
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like uh if you fast forward two or three
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years and you're thrilled with what
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you've got done what will you have
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delivered and it forces people to
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talking numbers it forces people to to
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have trade-offs and then we get a CEO if
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they've done that to share that with
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their leadership team and then we find
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everyone has a different point of view
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and then you just lock the door and you
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don't let them out until they've
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actually had some of these tough
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conversations about what are we not
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going to do versus just what we are
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going to
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do how how do you think priorities are
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linked with purpose and can you give any
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examples of leaders who are able to tie
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their priorities to the reason why the
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organization exist
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we've been working with a toga one day
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who uh is using a lot of his thinking
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around the checklist
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Manifesto uh to apply to um some of the
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most complex diseases and Health Care
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Health Care issues and uh when we very
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first spoke to him he said we said like
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why do you exist and he said I am trying
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to save harm or suffering from More Than
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A Million Lives over the next three
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years and and he's written about that
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and he has founded a laboratory an
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innovation lab called ariadne labs and
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what we find is it's like putting up a
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beacon into the sky like the bat signal
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and and and surgeons and Medics and
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professionals flock from all over the
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world um because his his mission uh just
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resonates with them um and then he then
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goes from that to say what are his three
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to five priorities but it all links back
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from that sense of purpose his his
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mission of what he's trying to do
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um how can you uh decide if your team's
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priorities are
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clear and and
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effective so it's one thing to think
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you've got the right priorities but then
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to make sure that you transmit them
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through the organization is another
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challenge I had a client recently share
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with me that he he had a senior team get
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together and think through priorities
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and they all padded each other on the
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back and said oh we've got our
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priorities we all agree and then they
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had a conversation with the next level
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down in the organization and there was a
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little more debate what really are our
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priorities I'm not sure are we aligned
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here and then they took the conversation
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to the next level down and that group of
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people basically said what
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priorities uh so there's definitely a
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challenge in organizations as you go
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through to create Clarity and the first
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thing that you need to do is limit
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yourself to that that three to five you
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know five really is the absolute limit
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of priorities that that we as humans can
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process and remember uh and the second
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piece is communication so just
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constantly communicating these are the
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five things whenever something comes up
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that's outside of those
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priorities calling it out saying you
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know what that's interesting that might
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even be important we should look at that
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but not now it's not part of our
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priorities I had a client say another
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client say whenever someone comes to her
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with something that's off the list she
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says make me care if you can show me how
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that connects to and supports one of our
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five priorities then we should think
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about doing it but if you can't we're
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not going to do it we're not going to
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put resources behind it so it's a
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combination of shortening the list from
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164 down to five and then communicating
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it constantly throughout the
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organization got it so now let's come to
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the really difficult part of the the
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power equation which is the who part how
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how can a leader select the right people
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for her or his team and make sure that
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they focused on the right
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priorities well you've actually begun to
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answer the question right there with
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that second piece which is make sure
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they're focused on the right priorities
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so uh the first mistake leaders make
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when it comes to hiring and thinking
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about their team is they're haven't even
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thought about their priorities in the
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first place assuming you actually have
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thought about your priorities the next
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question should not be how do we
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accomplish these priorities but rather
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who should accomplish these priorities
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which is where the the next big mistake
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comes most leaders don't think that they
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think about about the what questions and
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the how questions what do we need to do
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how do we need to do it rather than who
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do we need on the team to do it uh so
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question two is all about that who once
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you understand the priority who do we
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need on the team to accomplish it from
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there it's about following a structured
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process uh most leaders don't because
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they're not asking the right question in
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the first place uh and because they're
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distracted with all of the noise and you
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know the meetings and the conference
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calls and the 200 emails a day and all
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the other things coming along they don't
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put the actual energy into hiring the
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right people thinking about mapping
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their team to the right priorities and
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one of the things I found very
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interesting is you write in your book
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that this is
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the aspect of management that gives
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leaders the most
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heartburn uh how how can leaders become
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better at selecting the right
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people so it probably Begins by
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acknowledging what are all the mistakes
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that they typically make and on average
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uh nearly all the research proves that
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leaders are making mistakes about 50% of
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the time so half the time toss of a coin
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they're getting it wrong uh and they're
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using just a lot of um ill-informed
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techniques we call them uh uh Voodoo
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hiring uh uh tricks and uh for example
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uh should I be interviewing someone who
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is British and baling and has a slightly
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quirky sense of humor I'll probably
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think you know what they're pretty smart
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yeah I really like I can't put my finger
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on it but I really like that guy and we
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we tend to project ourselves onto the
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people that we see and yet we don't
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realize we have all these unconscious
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biases so the the very first part before
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you even get to like asking the correct
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questions is to acknowledge what are the
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mistakes that you're making right now
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but how do you go about removing
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underperformers and getting a players on
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your team how how how would you do that
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so first thing is understanding where
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you've got a B and C players if you want
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to use a sort of a classification system
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of your team and that goes back to the
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priorities Allan mentioned a little
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earlier a tool that we call a scorecard
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which basically just documents your
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priorities your mission and then the key
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priorities that you're pursuing uh and
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the best leaders actually take some time
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maybe once a quarter sit down look at
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the priorities map the team against them
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and ask the question how comfortable am
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I that these people are going to
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accomplish these things and if you have
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any doubt in your mind if there's a if
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you think well maybe it's 5050 that's
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not very good you're looking for a much
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higher degree of confidence 90% or even
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100% degree of confidence that those
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people will accomplish those priorities
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I'm I'm thinking of uh the our client um
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Panos who uh who who took ry's advice
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and did exactly that and and he uh he
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emailed us about a year and a half ago
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and said uh you know what I've been
00:15:00
following your advice we like well what
00:15:02
advice would that be we can't remember
00:15:04
and he said well every quarter I sit
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down and I map out who's my team if I
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was only allowed to have 50% of my
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people who's on my boat and then he goes
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okay now if I was allowed 75% of people
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who would I add to the team then he goes
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to 85% and then at 85% he goes who have
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I not who's not on this team who's not
00:15:28
on this boat and he guys at that point I
00:15:30
need to look in the mirror and ask
00:15:31
myself some pretty tough questions about
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whether or not these are the right
00:15:34
people moving forward and to make some
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tough decisions do you have any examples
00:15:39
of leaders who do a really good job of
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managing The Who and I would love to
00:15:44
know what they do differently than other
00:15:47
leaders so from a a process
00:15:50
perspective uh the best leaders that we
00:15:53
work with start by thinking about their
00:15:55
team against the priorities uh the
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second thing is they do remove the
00:16:00
weaker people and in some cases that
00:16:02
means moving them to a different place
00:16:03
in the company or the organization uh
00:16:06
and then third they get very aggressive
00:16:07
about hiring um Kristen Russell comes to
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mind she is the uh former uh head of it
00:16:14
in the state of Colorado and she had
00:16:15
some big jobs at Oracle I believe and a
00:16:18
couple of big uh big it shops she
00:16:21
considers herself a chief recruiting
00:16:24
officer she says you know I may be a CIO
00:16:27
but my real job is cro chief Chief
00:16:29
recruiting officer and she's constantly
00:16:31
on the hunt for great talent constantly
00:16:34
sourcing interesting people that she may
00:16:37
be able to bring into her organization
00:16:38
or maybe refer to other people uh within
00:16:41
the organization or other organizations
00:16:43
for that matter um and then she follows
00:16:45
a structured process to actually hire
00:16:48
those people as well which is the other
00:16:50
piece of the magic so it's it's
00:16:53
understanding that you need to have
00:16:54
these people it's putting that Chief
00:16:55
recruiter Hat on at all times then
00:16:57
following a structured process to to
00:17:00
hire them against the
00:17:02
priorities it's funny when we did the
00:17:04
analysis of if you look at every single
00:17:08
executive we've ever interviewed and met
00:17:11
and we look at what's the number one
00:17:14
risk or regret of that of that executive
00:17:17
the thing they wish they' done
00:17:19
differently W by far the number one is I
00:17:22
wish I had moved faster on the people I
00:17:25
deep down knew weren't the right people
00:17:27
on the team but we feel conflicted we
00:17:29
feel like well maybe it's my fault
00:17:32
they're not performing maybe I should
00:17:33
give them one more chance maybe it will
00:17:35
look bad it will look bad on me and so
00:17:39
they we we're very good at justifying
00:17:41
why tomorrow we'll probably be a
00:17:43
different person we'll take action but
00:17:45
just for the just for the moment let's
00:17:46
just keep the team as it
00:17:48
is um I wonder if you could since you
00:17:52
talk about
00:17:53
recruiting uh uh discuss a little bit
00:17:55
about the interview process and what are
00:17:58
some of the most common errors you find
00:18:01
the voodoo hiring the voodoo hiring that
00:18:03
people make and and and how can you
00:18:05
eliminate those errors from the from the
00:18:07
interview process sure so I we can maybe
00:18:10
banter back and forth on this because
00:18:12
this is this isent of them Rich
00:18:14
territory one that comes to mind uh that
00:18:17
I think is very very common is the
00:18:19
hypothetical question we call it the
00:18:21
fortune teller mol what would you do if
00:18:24
you joined our team which right now is a
00:18:26
little dysfunctional how would you fix
00:18:28
it it's it's a forward-looking question
00:18:31
and the problem is you get hypothetical
00:18:33
answers so if you were to ask me you
00:18:35
know Randy um I understand that you you
00:18:39
followed the uh the space shuttle and
00:18:41
the Apollo program when you were a kid
00:18:43
how would you get to the moon I could
00:18:45
actually answer that question I know how
00:18:47
to get to the Moon how to get to the
00:18:49
moon but I couldn't get you to the
00:18:52
Moon uh and the same is true here you
00:18:55
could based on your education based on
00:18:57
examples you've seen you could make
00:18:59
things up and unfortunately that's not
00:19:01
really a predictor of how somebody will
00:19:03
behave their past performance is a
00:19:05
predictor but not some projection of the
00:19:07
future so don't ask hypothetical
00:19:10
questions what's another good one
00:19:12
Alan another another voodo technique
00:19:15
that we see is um what we call the the
00:19:18
Sutter and this is when you know you've
00:19:20
got a good candidate in front of you and
00:19:22
you feel immense pressure to try and
00:19:24
impress them and to somehow make them
00:19:27
join your company so you talk and you
00:19:30
tell them how great it is and why you
00:19:32
joined and you you're just trying to
00:19:34
sell them and then you get to the end of
00:19:36
40 minutes and you've forgotten to ask
00:19:38
them any questions any difficult and
00:19:40
you're like well I I quite liked them
00:19:43
but I probably should have got a bit
00:19:45
deeper um and and and we find that all
00:19:47
too often happens again we're trying to
00:19:48
get the data to understand what's this
00:19:50
person really about and does that mean
00:19:52
they're going to be able to accomplish
00:19:53
my priorities or not one last one to
00:19:55
mention it's what Allan mentioned about
00:19:57
that strange attraction he has to the
00:20:00
balding men when he's like balding
00:20:01
British men I think they're going to be
00:20:03
really good in the job we tend to be art
00:20:05
critics you know you you see the
00:20:07
painting on the wall you like it for
00:20:09
some reason you can't really tell why
00:20:12
it's just something you like and so you
00:20:15
end up hiring that person uh it could be
00:20:17
a common interest or common background
00:20:20
or something and you end up hiring
00:20:21
people not based on what they're able to
00:20:23
do for you and with your team but based
00:20:26
on some gut feel that's not
00:20:28
substantiated by any real data I had a
00:20:30
client last week and and I said well why
00:20:32
did you give the offer to the
00:20:34
CFO and and the CEO said to me say he
00:20:37
was reassuringly
00:20:41
tall that may be true but that's not the
00:20:44
same person who can close the books on
00:20:47
time execute on the m&a or the things
00:20:49
you actually need them to get done so
00:20:52
let let's turn now to the r part of the
00:20:54
of of of the power uh score uh how how
00:20:58
can leaders develop
00:21:01
relationships that actually deliver
00:21:03
results as you write in your book yeah
00:21:06
that's right um we we we find that uh um
00:21:10
I don't know about your calendar but
00:21:12
mine is full of meetings and it always
00:21:15
has been and they seem to be getting
00:21:16
more frequent and longer and um we find
00:21:20
that this is true across across uh
00:21:23
America and around the world people are
00:21:25
just putting stuff into my calendar and
00:21:28
what we're finding is often the wrong
00:21:30
people are coming together at the wrong
00:21:33
time to talk about the wrong things in
00:21:35
an unstructured way and you know
00:21:37
meetings lack healthy conflict they lack
00:21:40
any sense of coordination and forward
00:21:42
progress and so one of the number one
00:21:44
things we do is um having good
00:21:46
relationships isn't about just liking
00:21:48
one another it's about how do we get
00:21:51
coordinated here how do we bring the
00:21:53
right people together at the right time
00:21:55
and probably half your meetings should
00:21:57
be uh 30 minutes shorter and some of
00:22:00
them should be much longer um and most
00:22:03
of us our calendars uh look the same as
00:22:05
they kind of did two years ago and we
00:22:07
don't update like who are we talking to
00:22:10
and when and why so getting coordinated
00:22:13
is one of the the key thrust the other
00:22:15
two big ones are uh building commitment
00:22:18
with your team and challenging your team
00:22:21
uh and this is where most leadership
00:22:22
theories and leadership books and uh
00:22:24
programs really focus their energy on
00:22:26
these two things building commitment is
00:22:28
all about building commitment uh Mutual
00:22:31
commitment with one another uh
00:22:33
commitment to the organization and the
00:22:35
cause commitment to the leader uh and
00:22:37
there's obviously a wide range of things
00:22:39
that you as a leader can and should do
00:22:42
chief among those is how you show up as
00:22:43
a leader so this is where role modeling
00:22:45
comes in and following through on
00:22:47
commitments and getting things done as a
00:22:49
leader uh comes in and how you how you
00:22:52
set the stage to enable that team to
00:22:54
create Mutual commitment and then the
00:22:56
challenging piece is how do you
00:22:57
challenge the team to be their very best
00:22:59
this is where motivation and inspiration
00:23:01
comes in this is where uh you begin to
00:23:04
push people beyond what they think they
00:23:06
can do on their own and to see what's
00:23:09
possible to do when you bring the
00:23:11
collective talents together into a group
00:23:13
so getting coordinated as Allan shared
00:23:15
and then working to help the team commit
00:23:18
and challenging them those three levers
00:23:20
really seem to uh be the big ones that
00:23:22
that form the relationships where 1 plus
00:23:25
1 equals 5 and you get that multiplier
00:23:27
effect in terms of results so I mean
00:23:31
there are so many meetings that I have
00:23:33
attended and I'm sure that you may have
00:23:36
attended uh simply are about status
00:23:39
updates uh C can you suggest some ways
00:23:42
that meetings can become more meaningful
00:23:45
MH yeah so we
00:23:48
uh we believe in healthy conflict we
00:23:51
think that there needs to be if you're
00:23:53
not feeling slightly awkward or you know
00:23:56
if you can't feel uh you you you leaning
00:23:58
forward um then then you're probably
00:24:01
talking about the wrong things like this
00:24:03
is not about process updates and and uh
00:24:07
and scheduling and the rest of it this
00:24:09
is about how do we cut to the thing
00:24:11
where we fundamentally disagree where
00:24:14
reasonably smart people disagree let's
00:24:17
talk about that and you want to see
00:24:19
drama and and if it's not memorable then
00:24:23
then then you should probably shift the
00:24:25
agenda so what a tool gnd who we spoke
00:24:27
about earlier did actually threw he blew
00:24:30
up the status meeting completely threw
00:24:31
it out and and basically said to
00:24:33
everyone you have to submit a problem
00:24:35
that we're going to solve and this is
00:24:37
going to be a problemsolving meeting
00:24:39
rather than a status update and at first
00:24:42
you know people were very uncomfortable
00:24:43
with that over time it has become
00:24:46
electrifying for the team I think
00:24:48
because now they're coming together to
00:24:49
actually tackle real issues solve real
00:24:51
problems not give each other status
00:24:54
updates which could be read on an email
00:24:56
or shared in another format
00:24:59
how how important is commitment to a
00:25:01
team success and do you think it's
00:25:04
inborn or can lead us
00:25:08
created go ahead Alan yeah yeah so we
00:25:13
um let me think
00:25:16
um we we believe commitments really
00:25:20
important uh if you uh if you don't feel
00:25:22
like your colleagues have your back then
00:25:26
you're you're really going to be um FL
00:25:28
foundering um you know we we see the
00:25:31
most committed teams have actually
00:25:32
really gone through some pretty tough
00:25:35
times so they haven't just been out on a
00:25:37
Sunday drive with the sun shining
00:25:39
they've actually you know been to Helen
00:25:41
Back um and as like as Winston Churchill
00:25:43
said like If You're Going Through Hell
00:25:45
keep going and and so um we find the
00:25:50
most committed teams have either had
00:25:52
this incredible like Crucible moment
00:25:54
where they've leared to work together
00:25:56
but we also find other leaders they try
00:25:58
and accelerate that process and that
00:26:00
discussion and some of the best leaders
00:26:02
we know they say at some point this
00:26:05
project this team it's going to suck
00:26:07
it's going to be terrible like it's
00:26:08
going to be a we don't know what it's
00:26:10
going to be now when that happens upon
00:26:13
what can we rely on in each other and
00:26:16
and having that conversation ahead of
00:26:18
time almost like rehearsing for the bad
00:26:20
times uh can really make the difference
00:26:23
two two leaders coming to mind one is
00:26:25
caperton flood who is actually a former
00:26:27
colleague of ours at uh banan company
00:26:30
and he actually has that conversation
00:26:31
upfront when the case team comes
00:26:33
together what Mutual commitments are we
00:26:35
willing to make to each other as we do
00:26:37
this project uh and this is when people
00:26:39
will say well you know what I I prefer
00:26:41
not to work past 8:00 pm because I've
00:26:43
got children and I want to be putting
00:26:44
them to bed well what happens if the
00:26:47
client calls and there's an urgent
00:26:48
matter so they actually problem solve
00:26:50
that before they even get into the real
00:26:53
life scenario so that's the rehearsing
00:26:55
uh that Allen was sharing and they they
00:26:56
drafted up and signed this document this
00:26:59
is what we're committing to so that's
00:27:01
one version another coming to mind is
00:27:03
John zilmer uh John zilmer uh uh at one
00:27:07
point was in in charge of a division of
00:27:10
Aramark and when he inherited it his
00:27:13
boss said hey you know John is taking
00:27:15
this on he's going to be the caretaker
00:27:17
of this business and John thought
00:27:20
caretaker I don't want to be a caretaker
00:27:22
and it was a poorly performing business
00:27:25
and he didn't want to caretake this
00:27:26
poorly performing business so he took
00:27:28
his team his new team offsite and
00:27:31
basically shared all of the results from
00:27:34
the past year which weren't particularly
00:27:36
good and they said all right I want you
00:27:37
to come back tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. and
00:27:39
we're going to do something and wear
00:27:40
your gym shorts and the leaders were
00:27:43
thinking gym shorts uh oh they show up
00:27:46
the next day in their gym shorts a van
00:27:48
takes them out to a skip Barber
00:27:50
racetrack so this is kind of that
00:27:51
classic team building and they have a
00:27:54
wonderful day racing cars together and
00:27:56
when they come back John all right looks
00:27:59
like you can learn new tricks so what I
00:28:01
want to know is what are you willing to
00:28:03
do as a team what's possible here and
00:28:06
over the next few hours this group of
00:28:08
people actually began to challenge one
00:28:10
another and they came up with goals that
00:28:12
were actually greater than what John had
00:28:14
envisioned and over the course of the
00:28:16
year he fostered it so he said all right
00:28:18
here's the deal if we can accomplish
00:28:19
these goals we're going to come back
00:28:21
next year we're do the we'll do the
00:28:23
three-day racing
00:28:24
course so first quarter they were making
00:28:27
their numbers John sent them racing
00:28:30
gloves and a note that said
00:28:32
congratulations second quarter they're
00:28:34
still making their numbers he sends them
00:28:35
the racing suit with their their names
00:28:37
on it third quarter they're making their
00:28:40
numbers he sends them the the helmet and
00:28:43
sure enough they make it they they show
00:28:45
up the next year and they did this this
00:28:46
wonderful three-day program and it was a
00:28:48
just a wonderful Testament of how a
00:28:50
leader almost manufactured commitment in
00:28:54
a team that didn't have it by creating a
00:28:56
shared experience
00:28:58
and building on that shared experience
00:29:00
that they took ownership of and
00:29:02
ultimately delivered the results
00:29:04
against so let's as a last question try
00:29:08
to put it all together because I think
00:29:10
we could keep talking about this for a
00:29:12
long time uh if you look at all the
00:29:15
three elements that youve talked about
00:29:17
the P the W and the r how can leaders
00:29:21
improve the power score of their
00:29:24
teams so what we're finding with our a
00:29:28
lot of our clients is they sit down and
00:29:32
they have a conversation with their team
00:29:34
and they said what's our power score to
00:29:36
which the team said what on Earth are
00:29:38
you talking about H and and then he
00:29:40
explains it said okay everyone get out a
00:29:42
piece of paper uh get out of pen and now
00:29:45
write down a number between 1 and 10 as
00:29:47
the answer to these questions to what
00:29:50
extent do we have the right priorities
00:29:51
do we have the right who the right
00:29:53
people in the right roles and do the
00:29:55
relationships work and then they all
00:29:57
held up their scores
00:29:59
multiply them together multiply your
00:30:01
three numbers together all the scores
00:30:02
are different and it's and and it
00:30:04
Fosters a lot of curiosity and
00:30:06
puzzlement and like really you scored it
00:30:09
a four I scored it of nine that's and
00:30:12
then and then it leads to the right
00:30:13
discussion and what our best clients do
00:30:16
is they don't just have that as a
00:30:17
one-off conversation it becomes
00:30:19
something they actually begin to track
00:30:20
monthly or on a quarterly
00:30:22
basis once you identify what's what's so
00:30:25
the beauty of the power score going back
00:30:27
to the Grand UniFi theory is it does
00:30:28
highlight where you have an issue so if
00:30:30
your overall power score is
00:30:33
432 uh what are you going to do about it
00:30:37
where are you weaker is it the
00:30:38
priorities aren't clear is it that the
00:30:40
who aren't right is it the relationships
00:30:42
aren't working it very quickly allows
00:30:45
you as a leader and as a team this is by
00:30:47
the way a leader with his or her team
00:30:49
exercise not something you do in a
00:30:51
vacuum so the whole team can look at
00:30:53
that and say what do we need to do how
00:30:54
do we go from 432 to 500 to 600 to 700
00:30:58
and up uh it becomes an enormously
00:31:01
clarifying vehicle for identifying the
00:31:03
issues and focusing in on those those
00:31:06
issues that will drive the results and
00:31:08
the beauty of it is the research shows
00:31:09
if you can drive the P the W and the r
00:31:11
you will get results you'll be more
00:31:13
successful than the average leader and
00:31:15
the average team by orders of magnitude
00:31:17
and that's where the fund starts great
00:31:20
well that's a great note to end on So
00:31:22
Randy Allan thank you so much for
00:31:24
speaking with knowledge at Wharton our
00:31:26
pleasure thank you
00:31:34
[Music]

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Episode Highlights

  • The Power Score Explained
    Randy and Alan discuss their book, 'Power Score', which outlines a new theory of leadership based on three key factors: priorities, who, and relationships.
    “We can describe leadership just like scientists describe the universe.”
    @ 01m 34s
    July 24, 2015
  • Hiring the Right People
    Leaders frequently make mistakes in hiring, often failing to focus on who should accomplish their priorities.
    “Most leaders only do one or maybe two of those really well.”
    @ 04m 25s
    July 24, 2015
  • The Importance of Priorities
    Leaders often struggle with setting clear priorities, which can lead to confusion and inefficiency within organizations.
    “You can have 164 goals and no sense of priority.”
    @ 06m 40s
    July 24, 2015
  • Transforming Meetings
    Meetings should focus on solving real problems, not just status updates.
    “This is going to be a problem-solving meeting rather than a status update.”
    @ 24m 35s
    July 24, 2015
  • Building Commitment
    Commitment is crucial for team success, often forged through shared challenges.
    “The most committed teams have gone through tough times together.”
    @ 25m 32s
    July 24, 2015
  • The Power Score
    Leaders can track their team's effectiveness through a 'power score' system.
    “Multiply your three numbers together to gauge team effectiveness.”
    @ 30m 01s
    July 24, 2015

Episode Quotes

  • We can describe leadership just like scientists describe the universe.
    Do You Know Your Team's PWR Score?
  • You can have 164 goals and no sense of priority.
    Do You Know Your Team's PWR Score?
  • Make me care if you can show me how that connects to our priorities.
    Do You Know Your Team's PWR Score?
  • You have to submit a problem that we're going to solve.
    Do You Know Your Team's PWR Score?
  • If you're going through hell, keep going.
    Do You Know Your Team's PWR Score?
  • What are you willing to do as a team?
    Do You Know Your Team's PWR Score?

Key Moments

  • Power Score Concept00:19
  • Leadership Interviews00:54
  • Three Factors of Success01:27
  • Setting Priorities06:55
  • Hiring Challenges11:40
  • Pressure to Impress19:22
  • Hiring Gut Feelings20:26
  • Team Building27:56

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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