Energy Consumers: Beware the Office Vampire

I am a big believer that having a firm command of your own physical, intellectual and emotional energy is imperative for everyone’s success.  As a leader, you need to make certain your team has positive emotional energy.  With that in mind, I thought I would share something interesting from April 9th’s Chicago Tribune.  I read Rex Huppke’s always amusing column “I Just Work Here”.  The column’s focus is the book Emotional Vampires by Al Bernstein, a Portland, Oregon-based clinical psychologist.  The book came out in 2000, but it is timeless – just like vampires. 

The premise of the book is there are people in the workplace whose actions and emotions suck the life out of fellow workers.  Instead of creating emotional energy, they are voracious consumers of it.  Bernstein sorts them into the following “vampire” types:

•  Anti-social vampires:  the rules are for suckers (no pun intended), not them.
•  Histrionic vampires:  no amount of unnecessary drama is too much.
•  Narcissistic vampires:  it is all about them, even when it is not.
•  Obsessive-compulsive vampires:  perfectionist who cannot see the forest for the trees.
•  Paranoid vampires:  positive they are right and everyone else is wrong.

These archetypes are exaggerations to make a point.  However, the negative effect they can have is not exaggerated at all.  Al Bernstein provides an “antidote” for each, but these are to be used by co-workers.  As the leader, your role is different. 

You need to maintain your leadership brand.  It must be consistent.  Your role is to keep returning everyone’s focus to the goal in a way that energizes you and the team.  To this end, be sure to praise in public and critique in private—it keeps the team cohesive.

I will be covering Team Dynamics more in the coming blogs.  Watch this space.

Humble Warrior

Do you ever get the feeling that your sense of what is right is warring with your ego? Like when you make an embarrassing mistake.  You know you should admit it, but ignoring it is easier. Or when your peer has a major success but gloats about it.  You just don’t want to give her the additional satisfaction of your acknowledgment.  Maybe it is something as small as not wanting to give anyone else a platform to talk during a meeting because you are too busy describing your great idea.

We know the right thing to do, but it is hard.  Often, we think of leadership in very black and white terms:  the best leaders are always strong, always right, always in the lead.   Consequently, giving power to someone else, admitting errors and letting others shine can feel like weakness.

Mastering your sense of self is crucial to successful leadership.  You have to be comfortable enough with yourself to know that admitting error, giving praise and sharing do not diminish your standing.  On the contrary, these qualities enhance your standing.  Only someone well-rounded and comfortable in their own skin can do these things. 

It reminds me of a yoga pose my wife described.  I looked it up (see photo).  The pose is called Humble Warrior.  The strong warrior is placed in a submissive position of leaning forward and bowing almost to the ground.  But on closer inspection, you can see that entire body is strong.  The pose uses the entire body:  strong, lunged legs; hands clasped behind; arms straight, thrust overhead; body cantilevered over; shoulder next to--but not touching--the knee; head hovering over the ground.  There is power in the humble pose. 

We need to tap into our internal strength to do that which may seem weak, but which actually makes us strong. 

What is your Humble Warrior moment?

Larry Bossidy: an example of superior leadership

With Larry Bossidy (right) the former CEO and Chairman of Allied Signal Corporation (Honeywell) at the Leadership Panel for a global executives association in Ireland. The panel was comprised of diverse supply chain executives who spoke about what the hallmarks of exceptional leadership ability. The panel members shared leadership stories from "the front lines"--these were essentially real-life situations that were brought up for this panel discussion. 

I was honored to have had the chance to meet with and have Larry Bossidy as a special guest this unique panel. He is one of the foremost executive leaders of the 20th Century as well as the 21st Century. Prior to Allied Signal/Honeywell, he was a top executive at GE for over 34 years. Upon his scheduled retirement from Honeywell in April of 2000 (Honeywell merged with Allied Signal in December 1999), he stepped back into his role as CEO and Chairman when General Electric attempted to acquire Honeywell in 2001. He retired again in 2002. To date, Larry Bossidy is a Contributor for CNBC, busy writing books and speaking. He is also currently serving on the Board of Berkshire Hills Bancorp and is an advisor to the private equity firm, Aurora Capital Group. 

Larry Bossidy is the co-author of:

Confronting Reality: Doing What Matters to Get Things Right 

Execution:The Discipline of Getting Things Done

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