Leadership | Chief Business Futurist Blog

Posted on July 25, 2012July 25, 2012 by David Dalka — 1 Comment

Suddenly in Charge : Roberta Chinsky Matuson Book Interview

Suddenly in Charge by Roberta Chinsky Matuson

Recently I read Roberta Chinsky Matuson’s Suddenly in Charge: Managing Up, Managing Down and Succeeding All Around(Niocolas Brealey). Really unique book, especially the managing up part, as I’ve never seen extensive writing about that issue previously. Insightful stuff. Roberta was kind enough to grant an interview.

In the chapter on Office Politics you mention the three issues power affects most: allocation of resources, administrative succession and organizational structure. Some assert that many offices are becoming more political overall. If that were true in an individual case what is generally causing that and what should executive teams do to start to rectify it?

There is a direct correlation between resources and office politics. When resources are plentiful, there is no need to go to battle for what you believe should be yours as there is plenty to go around. Of course the opposite is true as well. When resources are tight, savvy workers will do what is necessary to claim the resources they need to get their jobs done and to obtain highly prized promotions.

It’s funny that you should ask what executive teams should do to rectify this as those on the executive team are often the most political. That being said, executives can make sure people have the resources to do their work. They should also promote people based on ability, rather than on likeability.

In Chapter 5 of the Managing Up portion of the book you discuss the concept of positive self-promotion. Could you elaborate on why you consider this concept to be so important?

In today’s workplace, there is so much competition for attention. You have to toot your own horn to be heard in a sea of cubicles. Pump up the volume and make enough noise so people in the organization know who you are and what you are capable of doing.

Operating under the assumption that your work will speak for itself is wrong. If that were the case, then why is it that so many great artists never got noticed until they died? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be recognized and rewarded while I’m alive.

Two chapters later you mention how to handle those who might seek to cheat shareholders and how to deal with them…what advice would you give to someone in a less explicit situation such as someone protecting a pet project or seeking to maintain funding for an activity that is no longer optimal for most organizational stakeholders?

Do you really have all the information you need and the expertise to determine if a project is optimal for most organizational stakeholders? If the answer is no, then I would recommend you continue to work on the assignment. If the answer is yes, then you have to weigh out your options. The person who is protecting a pet project isn’t going to be easily swayed by someone challenging their project, so most likely you will have to go above their head. You will need to examine what might happen if you do so, before you take your case further.

Roberta Chinsky Matuson - Human Resource Solutions — Roberta Chinsky Matuson – Human Resource Solutions

Why do organizations struggle to hire the optimal people with the right skills?

There are many reasons why organizations struggle to hire the optimal people with the right skills. In my new book, The Magnetic Workplace: How to Attract Top Talent that Will Stick Around (Nicholas Brealey, 2013), I talk about how there has never been a better time to hire top talent, but employers are taking too long. Many are operating under the assumption that nothing has changed in the employment landscape. In my book, I discuss the importance of removing barriers that may be slowing your company down in the hiring process, as in this new economy; speed will be of utmost importance.

Employers focus too much on skills and not enough on fit. You can train the right people to do most skills, but you can’t really train a forty-year old to play nice with others or to be extremely detail oriented. I recommend hiring on fit and training for skill.

Over the years, I’ve taught thousands of people how to hire for fit. It’s a skill that is easily learned. Like most skills, the more you practice, the better you get.

In your acknowledgement section you state, “My deepest gratitude goes to my mentor, Alan Weiss, who has offered guidance and support throughout my consulting practice.” (I’ve interviewed Alan Weiss previously.) Could you please expand on type of mentorship he has provided to you and how it has impacted you?

I have been a part of Alan’s community for years and have enrolled in his mentoring program numerous times. Having access to someone who has achieved what you are trying to achieve is priceless.

Through my work with Alan, I’ve learned that mentorship and coaching is one of the fastest ways to create change and to help people reach their full potential. I now offer these services to my clients and am always thrilled to see how quickly they are able to attain the results they seek. I believe this is so because they are fully committed to their personal and professional growth. Of course having someone to help keep them accountable certainly doesn’t hurt!

What did you learn from the process of publishing a book?

I learned many things from the process of publishing a book. Here are a few of those things in no particular order.

Determination is key. If you want something bad enough and you are willing to put in the work, then anything is possible.

When you engage an agent, it’s a partnership. You have to trust that your agent knows what he or she is doing and that they have your best interest in mind. If you don’t trust your agent then look for another agent.

Bigger isn’t always better. In my dreams, I always imagined I would be with a big publishing house. But in the end, it was a small publisher who agreed to publish Suddenly in Charge: Managing Up, Managing Down, Succeeding All Around. In retrospect, being with a smaller house gave me opportunities that I never would have gotten with one of the larger publishers. For example, I was the one who suggested we flip the book (one side of the book is on managing up and the other side is on managing down.) Rather than discard the idea, my publishing team said they would see if it was possible. The unique format of Suddenly in Charge has helped my book stand out from a crowded field of management books.

Many people don’t realize that publishers pay for the space in airport bookstores. Of course the authors who don’t need all that much visibility (e.g., Danielle Steele, Marshall Goldsmith, etc.) are the ones who the publishers are willing to make that kind of investment in. My publisher invested in me, and my book was distributed at WH Smith Stores in airports and train stations around the globe. I still recall the day when a colleague snapped a photo of my book next to Sir Richard Branson. His book was charting at number nine and mine was number ten!

The process of writing a book is only the beginning. Just as you catch your breath you receive the edits, which may require some rewrites. You take another breath and it’s time to find people who are willing to endorse your book. Next comes the promotion of the book, which is usually on the shoulders of the author. And then it all starts again when you decide like me to write another book.

What are the three trigger events that should lead to someone contacting you about your services?

1. Your company is experiencing growth and you recognize that the people you have on board don’t have the skills needed to take the business to the next level.

2. You or someone on your team has just been tossed into a leadership role.

3. Your company is going through an acquisition or a merger.

For more information, please visit Roberta’s website, http://www.yourhrexperts.com/

Posted on November 29, 2011 by David Dalka — 6 Comments

Jeffrey Hayzlett Book Interview – Running the Gauntlet : Essential Business Lessons to Lead, Drive Change, and Grow Profits

In the highly anticipated follow up to The Mirror Test, Jeffrey Hayzlett now brings us Running the Gauntlet: Essential Business Lessons to Lead, Drive Change, and Grow Profits due from McGraw-Hill in January 2012. Over the past few years I’ve gotten to know Jeffrey, he’s certainly a unique bird. He’s engaged me not only on stage buy off with invites to special events at conferences, restaurants and has already introduced me to many interesting people I never would have met otherwise. I can only imagine what lies ahead! The mutual lifelong learning and fun back and forth is awesome. Jeffrey was kind enough to grant us one of the first reads of the book and interviews. Let’s get to it!

Q: You mention Henry Ford creating the assembly line: “Productivity was so astounding that Ford stopped measuring it. By 1914, other companies needed for five times as many workers to build the same hundreds of thousands of cars as Ford.” Henry Ford was also known for paying workers well. It seems the best way to improve standards of living is large productivity gains?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: That’s one way, I don’t know if it’s the only way or the best way. It’s more of a philosophy, give people what they want and get the things you want. Provide a great product or service, of high quality, and there will be consumers. The same theory can be applied to anything you are advertising, marketing or promoting. For example, use the workers in Henry Ford’s plant and productivity. In Ford’s plants they became so good they stopped measuring. It was about not only paying workers a fair wage – a good wage – but about offering them other things, enticing them, so they could buy the product they made, have pride in ownership, pride in building the products they created. There are lots of different ways to go about getting the things you want. Money may not always be the greatest incentive when gaining productivity or motivation. Again, find out what people want and then give it to them. Motivating my salespeople isn’t always about making good money – it can be a way to keep “score” – but sometimes it can be offering incentives such as golf balls, trips, even cowboy boots to get the team excited to want to go out and do more on the company’s behalf.

Q: Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975 but didn’t launch it back then……why?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: Their success led to their own demise. Because they were trying to protect the great margins film had – you had a product that was 70, 80 even as high as 90% in terms of profitability. They were doing everything they could to keep that alive for as long as they could. The problem became they forgot what type of company they were. They started to believe they were a film company rather than a company that would help people make images and move information, a company focused on innovation, a company providing emotional technology. They had the only product people would actually run into a burning building to save, yet they focused on being a film company rather than a company that can innovate and recreate itself again and again and again. If we look at the most successful companies, whether it be IBM, Apple or a host of others it’s about being able to reinvent yourself as well as remembering at the core of it all who you really are.

Q: You suggest a fear of change and that this can inhibit healthy debate with those that disagree with us. What is the best way to create culture that can thrive on healthy debate, starting with how we pick a new breed of leaders?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: We all know that leadership starts at the top but is also reinforced and thrives at the bottom. So across the organization if you don’t have leaders at the top of the org that are willing to not only to create tension but take it as well then you are not going to get the give and take that you want at an organization. You won’t be able to encourage innovation, encourage change and encourage growth because everybody will be looking out after themselves because they are afraid of what they might say because the boss might have retribution. So the key is to create an organization where people can stand up and question things. By standing up and questioning things you create the tension in the system and you get something better than you first started with. If I start with item A and someone starts with item Z and we start creating so much friction back and forth and this friction creates a fire of new ideas somehow we’ll go one way or the other to move the new idea to a better place. I think that’s what great leaders try to do.

Q: When I worked at BlackRock(BLK) there was discipline around process, but it was flexible to allow breakthrough ideas. In Chapter 14 you wrote “Some people get caught up in the idea rather than the process, but I think the process leads to the idea.” Please elaborate on this concept…

Jeffrey Hayzlett: It’s a little bit of both in this particular case. Certainly you can have a great idea but if you can’t get it out and get it through the process it will never see itself through fruition – it will never make it to market. I can remember one time sitting in a meeting with a chief technology officer – one of the smartest guys in the world that I had ever met. He said, “Jeff, you realize because I make this product, I create this software program – if it weren’t for me you wouldn’t have a job.” I had to remind him that it could be the greatest product in the world but if it weren’t for me selling it and marketing it – getting it out through the process and to the customers’ hands that he wouldn’t have anything. So that’s what I’m talking about the process leads to the idea. By having great processes and great systems set up then you can try to push things through to allow things to be able to win. If you don’t have a great process, even the greatest ideas will lose before they begin.

Q: So when done right, this can allow a company to focus on the future more effectively?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: Absolutely, by having a great system, a great process, a great way of channeling greatness then you’re going to be able to look for more things to put through to your following. Look at the greatest sports teams in the world, it is those that focus on the fundamentals of having great athletes – not just one great player or two and then try to build the team around them but yet having a great team made up of different people and that’s what process does for us.

Q: In the 1993 classic book, Reengineering the Corporation by Michael Hammer and John Champy they mention that executives are “frighteningly unfamiliar” with three forces, separately and in combination: Customers, Competition and Change. You actively did this in those retail stores. Given the popularity of that book almost two decades ago, why do you think companies are still so unable to focus on these basics?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: I think so many companies focus on the next big thing, the big peel, the magic peel. I think especially in the US we look to that one big thing that will do it for us rather than again getting back to that process, getting back to good and hard work. If it was easy anyone could do it – it’s not supposed to be easy. Therefore, the focus on competition, the focus on customers, the focus on change are just as good today as they were decades before. It’s important for us to be able to take a look at how we implement change, look at customer and competitors to be able to drive and channel the forces behind being successful.

Q: “Radical transparency is not a one-way street of engagement.” Why do people have such a hard time developing a 2-way mindset in search marketing and social media?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: Inherently, I think it’s because people are scared. Most people don’t like to get feedback. I was one time in a phase in my life where I wore all black all the time. Someone asked me why and I said because it makes you look slimmer. The person turned back to me and said, well it’s not working. I think a lot of people are afraid to hear that feedback sometimes and it takes a very strong leader and a strong person to get into that 2-way mindset, that it’s ok to get feedback – both positive and negative. By the way, look at the negatives as a gift because that’s a way for you to be able to change, to turn around that potential customer or that person who’s had a negative experience. I’ve heard from brand leaders and internal departments (HR, Legal) where they want to try to control the situation but you can’t control the situation. When it comes to brands especially, you can’t control it because a brand is nothing but a promise delivered. It’s about delivering a promise and when you deliver that promise or opportunity up to the customer it’s going to be interpreted in different ways. Sometimes that’s positive and many times its also negative. Yet you should be strong enough in your leadership abilities, strong enough in your offering to be able to understand that this will come with everything. There’s going to be a good, a bad and an ugly but the good should always outweigh the other two.

For more information, please visit http://hayzlett.com/. Thank you!

Posted on November 29, 2011November 29, 2011 by David Dalka — 1 Comment

Harvey Mackay Book Interview : THE MACKAY MBA OF SELLING IN THE REAL WORLD

Last year Harvey Mackay visited Chicago for a media tour for his previous book last year and I got to travel from media outlet to media outlet with him for a day as he did so. The experience would be hard to describe beyond that it will never be forgotten as long as I live and was amazing media training. His focus on others is always present as he seeks to learn every detail of the life of his next interview. Harvey is truly a one of a kind individual and I consider myself fortunate for having spent a day with him.

His lasted book is THE MACKAY MBA OF SELLING IN THE REAL WORLD (Portfolio, 2011). The wonderful publicity folks retained by Mr. Mackay were kind enough to grant me an email interview after I read the book. His answers below build on a great read and create the basis for a larger conversation that the world desperately needs to have. Harvey is part of an increasingly rare breed of business leader who understands that people, human capital and organizational transformation are vital to success. For our society to survive as we know it, we must rapidly work to reverse this trend and create a new generation of leaders with these all too rare skills. You feel the sense of urgency in his answers below. I can’t wait to spend another day with Harvey Mackay, the mutual learning would be overwhelming.

You stated “Fostering employee loyalty is the first step to creating customer loyalty” in Chapter 4. Over the past two decades, many companies have treated employees as disposable assets. How would you convince management to reverse this unfortunate trend?

Harvey Mackay: Our company mission statement is to be in business forever. That means no compromising … not compromising your core principles and taking any shortcuts. It is virtually impossible to stay in business over a long period of time if you treat your employees as disposable assets. In 50-plus years in the business world, I know of no one who stayed in business with a revolving door of employees. It’s sad to say, but in these difficult economic times there are still too many businesses that still don’t get it.

Chapter 15 states, “Your past is not your potential” and “Far too many people exist in a world of “what is” rather than applying their energies to “what can be”.” Today skills are dynamic and changing; this has implications for returning to the basics of recruiting naturally curious lifelong learners based with the vision to lead change. How can companies best stop the practice of picking leaders of the past?

Harvey Mackay: I have hired over 500 people in my career, and the single most important word in the dictionary that I look for and demand is trust. Once I have established that, then I immediately look for capacity and willingness to learn. I can’t begin to tell you how many people out there in the marketplace and disciples of the Peter Principle. There has been a seismic shift in the business world. The great classical business principles still hold true but they need to be fused with cutting edge internet technology. That’s the kind of leaders that companies should be looking for.

Fred Smith got a “C” on his term paper for his idea for Federal Express. Mike Bloomberg was told his idea for what became the Bloomberg terminal would never work by his former employer. Why is it often so difficult for most executives to grasp paradigm changing business ideas?

Harvey Mackay: It’s way easier to stay in the comfort zone, especially when things are going good than to go out on a limb and take some risks. My philosophy is exactly the opposite: Sometimes it’s risky not to take a risk. And remember, if you walk backwards, you will never stub your toe. One of the most difficult things in life for any individual or business is to accept and adopt change.

So, as you like to say, “People don’t know what they don’t know?”

Harvey Mackay: The way I like to fine tune this statement that I made up in college is – I know that you don’t know, but you don’t know that you don’t know! By that I mean there are three reasons why individuals and businesses fail:

1. Arrogance

2. Arrogance

3. Arrogance

There has been a consistent, gradual decline in ethical business practices in the United States for about 50 years, and it reached new extremes in the “daisy chain” of the sub-prime mortgage industry in the period of 2002-2008. This was caused by executives getting chapped lips from kissing the mirror too much, which is a perfect example of how arrogance set in.

You discuss the importance of listening, what is the best way for a salesperson to use the obtained information to create a successful sales?

Harvey Mackay: First of all you can’t learn anything if you are doing all the talking. Sales people should always be developing their earQ, not their IQ. The only way to create a successful sale is to understand that knowledge (from listening) does not become power until it is used. And ideas without action are worthless.

You talked about enthusiasm, what is the best way to maintain it in the face of adversity?

Harvey Mackay: First of all, I have never yet met a successful person who hasn’t had to overcome either a little or a lot of adversity in his or her life. If life there is a lot of lumps and bumps … a lot of throttling up and a lot of throttling down. Failure is not falling down, but staying down. Therefore, you have to ignite your own enthusiasm. The ten most powerful two-letter words in the English language are: If it is to be, it is up to me. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and you will accomplish your object. I agree with Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

In chapter 67 you cut the world-famous Mackay 66 to the Mackay 25, Please share more about why you changed it…

Harvey Mackay: The Mackay 25 does not replace the Mackay 66. Rather it is a streamlined version, which gets you to an instant snapshot of the prospect or buyer’s attitude and expectations. It gets to the heart of what is commonly known today as relationship selling.

In a recent blog post you stated that you are always surprised when you ask who their customers are and they say everyone. Rob La Gesse (@kr8tr) asks who is your customer? Have you decided who is not? If so, you have already self-limited your ability to affect change?

Harvey Mackay: You can’t be all things to all people. In most businesses the company will have what I refer to as nitch-picking. In short, virtually everyone has their own niche within an industry.

I had the distinct pleasure of spending the day with you during your Chicago media tour in 2010. I was amazed by the way you prepared for each interview. You were seeking to learn about each interviewer and worked to bring that into the on air conversation. What can aspiring radio and TV guests learn from your techniques?

Harvey Mackay: I call this humanize your selling strategy. I attempt to do a Mackay 66 Question Customer Profile on everyone I meet throughout my life. That means customers, employees, suppliers, competitors, audiences, radio and TV talk-show hosts and journalists. This is what I teach our sales force and the people I mentor, and that is that every single person I encounter I have a deep-down burning desire to learn what turns that person on and what he or she is most interested in. In any relationship, you must find a common denominator.

———————————————————————————————————————————–

Thank you Harvey! Every CEO, board of directors member and business leader should read this interview and distribute it (and his book) to their teams and then talk about these meaty issues! I welcome the world changing conversation.

Learn more about Harvey at http://www.harveymackay.com/

Posted on March 28, 2011March 28, 2011 by David Dalka — Leave a comment

Tim Sanders New Leadership Book Interview – Today We Are Rich

[tweetmeme] When I heard Tim Sanders was releasing a new leadership book called Today We Are Rich (Tyndale House Publishers), I immediately suggested an interview and he promptly sent me an unedited advance copy.

The book starts with an amazingly positive story about his childhood with his grandmother, then migrates to a dark memoir about a portion of Tim’s life before migrating back to how that first positive story can demonstrate a framework for a positive life filled with happiness, purpose and accomplishment. The book is a highly emotional and personal journey about Tim’s relationship with his grandmother Billye and the lessons that he learned from her, one that I personally found highly enjoyable and thought provoking. The following is my interview with Tim Sanders about Today We Are Rich.

————————————————————————————————————————————-

The opening heartwarming story of your now 95 year old grandmother Billye giving a stranger in need a needed chance that taught you important life lessons. Due to economic disruptions over the past decade, many people could appreciate such a chance. Is this one of the reasons you wrote this book now?

TIM SANDERS: I wrote the book in response to the fear I saw in people’s eyes in the Fall of 2008. Everywhere I went, it was like 1991 or 2001 all over again: Boom, crash, uncertainty, scarcity-think. I said to myself, “write your book on Abundance, tell Billye’s story!.” Much like Napoleon Hill did in the 1930’s I felt compelled to write about how we must cultivate confidence from the inside so when things fall apart, we can be the Phoenix and not the fodder.

You discuss the subconscious mind as being larger than the conscious mind and how leveraging this can have positive impacts on our lives. I see similar patterns in my research on leadership. Could you please explain your research and why the conscious mind has limited room to operate?

TIM SANDERS: As the to why, I’m sure one could say it’s God’s design while most would say is species specialization – we’d lose our minds if we were conscious of everything we’ve ever experienced all the time. The research on the subconscious is vast, and stretches all the way back to the great William James. We have limited person RAM (what you can hold in your active mind at one time), but much great drive space (our filed memories, which researchers say occupies the same space as the director of our central nervous system.) If you read Claude Bristol or Maxwell Maltz, you get a much richer explanation. If you’ve ever been stuck for a word, then recovered it later, you felt a rush of relief – that’s the connection between your ‘two minds.’

You talk about practicing your speaking in your hotel room looking at the mirror to activate your subconscious mind. You stated that this helps your performance. Please elaborate on how and why this works for you…

TIM SANDERS: When you face yourself, making eye to eye contact, the active mind connects with your below-the-surface consciousness – like two people staring each other down. Try it next time you rehearse a talk or a pitch, you’ll see what I mean. By combining a rehearsal with direct eye contact, I face my greatest critic: Me. If I can convince myself, then I have more confidence to project to others when it’s go-time.

A few years ago I canceled my cable TV and became an Internet only household, learning new things reading books and spending more time with friends. It’s been a positive experience. You talk about removing negativity and seeking positive nutrients in the book, please explain why and how…

TIM SANDERS: First of all, good for you – that explains why your outlook is constructive and upbeat. You feed your mind good stuff. For your readers, I suggest they download the chapter and read it too – it’s really the foundation of my entire psyche (http://twar.com/free). The idea is simple: You should be as judicious about what you put into your mind as what you put into your mouth. Watch a bunch of cable, read gossip mags and hang out with negative people – and you’ll end up depressed and negative. You cannot avoid it any more than you can successful multi-task complex creative projects. You are only human. Here’s the takeaway: Positive thinking is not a prescription, it’s an outcome. You think positive because you load your mind up with good stuff.

Your son Anthony went through a phase where he considered quitting his job as a “Genius” at the Apple store where he gets to sell the Macbook, iPad, iPhone to celebrities in Los Angeles. You helped him rediscover his gratitude, how can we all best rekindle our gratitude muscle?

TIM SANDERS: It really depends on what you need to be grateful about. For Anthony, he needed some perspective on Apple, removed from the grit and mire of his present experience. So I took him to Staples, Home Depot and the DMV in a Scrooge like jobs of past, present and future. Rocked his world and he’s still at Apple. For some, it’s a daily requirement. I suggest that when you first wake up, instead of jumping on line and letting the world punch you with data, you should spend a few minutes itemizing what people have recently done for you and why. It’s a workout for your soul.

In one portion of the book you state that “Book readers are leaders. Many of the most successful executives that I know are voracious readers of books.” Is it the books or is it more the personal attribute of being a naturally curious lifelong learner that is the primary driver of your opinion?

TIM SANDERS: Book readers dive in deeper to subjects than article or headline munchers. There’s a high barrier to entry, though, as most non-fiction and business books are quite dry in comparison to other media or entertainment options. Those that read six to ten relevant books a year are much more future-proof than the grazers of the world. They talk about more interesting things and riff more than people that only know what everyone else knows.

You discussed eighteenth century philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, the author of The Social Contract, who stated “Those that are most slow in making a promise are the most faithful in the performance of it.” You then discussed how promises should deliver results just like a business. Are you suggesting that not enough people are taking their promises as seriously as they should?

TIM SANDERS: Yes, we have little or no discipline about our promise making. If we spent our money like we issued promises, we’d likely go broke! I’ve learned to always measure my ability to deliver before I make the promise and not later, when it’s time to make excuses or apologies. This is important, though, because research we did for the Likeability Factor revealed that you are judged as a person of integrity by the little promises you keep or don’t keep. So protect your integrity, when you lose that in the eyes of others, you’ll lose it on the inside to.

One thing that fascinated me while reading Today We Are Rich is how you so clearly told stories that were decades old! How in the world did you do recall them so vividly?

TIM SANDERS: That’s one gift I’ve had all along – I can recollect experiences though meditation, reflection and discussions with families and friends. And I also think I was blessed too during this writing process with some much needed flow and inspiration.

The book closes with a story of you making an extra effort to complete a task and how your schoolmates showed appreciation – even when you weren’t expecting it! What should we learn from this event?

TIM SANDERS: When you finish what you start, especially when it’s hard or fruitless, you’ll turn your scoffers into supporters. I believe people are inherently loving, kind and generous. You can trigger that with grit and determination.

The January, 1984, Annual of Psychoanalysis, vol. XII/XIII, Jerome A. Winer, Thomas Jobe, and Carlton Ferrono, “Toward a psychoanalytic theory of the charismatic relationship.” It discusses how great struggle builds foundations for charismatic leaders to emerge. Please discuss why you think this might be true and how people can best leverage that using Today We Are Rich?

TIM SANDERS: Great struggles provide a foundation for a strong contrast in your narrative – like a great song posses the ‘whisper to a scream’ dynamic. If you’ve never had low lows, how can you truly illustrate soaring highs?

If Carol Bartz was removed as Yahoo! CEO and the board of directors called you to explore having you be the next CEO, what would you think about replying to the gesture and what would your first action be?

TIM SANDERS: A decade ago, I wanted that job. Loved Yahoo! so much I thought I could-must-should do it. But today, I know that I’m not the person for that job. It’s really hard, the P&L is massive and Google is quite a foe to catch up with or overtake.

Be sure to go out and buy Tim Sanders new book Today We Are Rich, it was joy to experience and has opens thinking about