5 bases of power

What is POWER?
Is your boss more powerful than your partner? than your mom?

Five bases of power : (handy manager reference)
The five bases of power were proposed by the social psychologists French and Raven. They found five types of power that leaders posess :

• Legitimate Power : formal authority; refers to power of an individual because of the relative position and duties of the holder of the position within an organization
• Referent Power : charisma ; means the power or ability of individuals to persuade and influence others.
• Expert Power : power deriving from the skills or expertise of the person
• Reward Power : refers to the degree to which the individual can give others a reward of some kind such as benefits, time off, desired gifts, promotions
• Coercive Power : means the application of negative influences onto employees; the ability to demote ; tends to be the least effective form of power as it builds resentment
  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(sociology)#Five_bases_of_power

McDonald's case study

McD is the largest resturant chain in the world. Like all 800# gorillas on the top (Starbucks, Walmart, Microsoft) they will come under intense scrutiny and be far more popular for criticism. Why does McDonalds get more scrutiny than Wendy's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Sonic, KFC, or Taco Bell? According to the statistics reported on the movie "Supersize Me," McDonalds captures 40% of the fast food market and enrages consumers because of the alleged focus to lure children and addict them early. Its the only one with a playground, happy meals, toys, characters, and a $1.4B advertising budget that are meant to attract children for life.

It is interesting to look at their globalization challenges and achievements : how about their entrance to Russia?

• first attempted to franchise in Russia in 1976


• 14 years later, they opened a store in Russia in 1990


• 27,000 applications for 605 positions


• 17,000 russians now work in 127 stores


• $40M McComplex was built to help with centralized food processing and distribution


• 80,000 more jobs created through independent suppliers (local cattle and vegtable farmers)

Now, McD is 30,000 stores in 120 countries!

Fortune 500 ranking = 108

Annual Sales = $21B

Employees = 460,000

If you don't want a Big Mac, you might buy the stock : MCD

Recently, I spoke with a friend, Sultan Yousufzai, now an Information Systems and Assurance guru. Mr. Yousufzai had been a food safety inspector for McDonalds and described an impressive audit system. Random visits would ensure that certified food handlers were on staff and that best practices were being performed. Even food samples were collected for laboratory analysis of bacteria. Even more impressive was the corporate commitment to food safety above all other metrics and accountability. Manager's were given a three strikes and you're out with regards to food safety violations.

Not meant to be the healthiest food, patrons can be assured that McDonalds is among the safest food!

Good to Great

Alice : Which way do I go?

Cat : Where are you going?

Alice : I don't know.

Cat : Then it doesn't matter!

__________________________excerpt "Through the Looking Glass" Lewis Carroll

How do businesses go from Good to Great? Author Jim Collins from CU-Boulder describes a few observed parallels between companies that were good and their competitors that were great.

A company must have a succinct vision, values, and purpose that employees will connect to. Individuals are mostly concerned with themselves, therefore the statements must be able to resonate within them. Not every employee will relate and that leads to getting the right people on the bus like Jack Welch (GE) and Henry Kelleher (Southwest Airlines) did.
In a visionary leadership class, we're asked to discover ourselves and document our vision and our purpose. This exercise is surprisingly powerful in identifying which paths to take.

As a leader, we must define our values and purpose. Then we can align with a company, project, or purpose that is in agreement. Finally, we can get the right people on the bus by communicating the vision and purpose that this company or project stands for; the guiding principles that allow fast, autonomous decision making and teams that 'fit.'

I have started with the following, friends and family will tell me if I missed the mark with describing my true passions.
VALUES : ______I value love, achievement, and adventure.
PURPOSE : _____The purpose of my life/career
______________is to lead others
______________so that other people experience success.

Real Estate sales

I am selling my house in Fort Collins. I'm just ready to lighten my burdens a bit and focus my energy on my career.
http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.htm?addrstrthood=1513%20yount%20st&citystatezip=80524

Fort Collins was voted the #1 city to live in for 2006. I would expect the house to just sell itself being in this neighborhood, location, and city. It is also the least expensive home in the neighborhood and requires very little upkeep. It has a great yard, floorplan, and 2 car attached garage. I am realizing now that it won't "sell itself" and I'm unsure of what marketing plan to create. In lieu of a realtor, I have posted it on ForSaleByOwner.com with 1 response. I put it in the DenverPost for 7 days with two responses. I placed a sign out front for 2 responses. I need to discover a better plan.

I bought the house in 1994 in anticipation of going to school at Colorado State University (CSU). When I graduated and went to work in Denver, I held on to it. It is such a great town; I had always hoped that I would make it back up there to start a family and live the peaceful life. Its a safe, clean, quiet town with good spirits and many educated people. Its a small town feel without small minds!

Volunteer

Nobody needs your help more than students.
Kennedy H.S. provided mock interviews today for students with community volunteers and faculty. It was very rewarding and the students showed great appreciation.
While the trend of today's students is towards mediocrity, it is refreshing to work with these achievers. Taking the high road is a very lonely path with few experiences that confirm that going against the grain 'in this case' is worth it. These students benefit from the feedback of listening to their contributions and ambitions and then saying "you're on the right track!"

Interviewees : have two questions prepared to ask the interviewer in the end. One question is geared towards an interviewer that you feel is uncomfortable or hurried with the process. Another type would be for the one who is confident and intent on discovering talent. To end the interview you may try something like :
1. How long have you worked here and has it been a good experience? This is easy for them to answer quickly and succinctly and will give them confidence and closure.
2. What are the top 3 traits that would be a good fit at this office?

I would like to discover other volunteer opportunities where my contributions would have a large impact. I would like to volunteer for some neighborhood committees and board of directors.

Which path should I take?

: where are you going?
: I don't know.
: Then it doesn't matter.

conversation between Alice and the cat, "Through the Looking Glass" Lewis Carroll

Others can't choose your path for you. The experience that leads to success is down any of the roads that you choose. Whether the path you chose seemed easier or harder, people will envy you because to them "the grass is always greener on the other side."
Make a choice that you can live with and support. The only 'bad' choice is to escape responsibility by hedging in the middle and not choosing until the choice is made by someone else or the opportunity expires.

Denver Blizzard I & II : 2006/2007

Whooo its cold and deep! but we're living it!

Pygmalion effect when mentoring

expectations influence results! Expectation leads to reality; a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Its like cheerleading. Make tasks challenging but realistic; communicate a can-do and a belief in your protege.

• contact: eye contact, tone of voice, body posture
• feedback: praise more, criticize less to build self-confidence
• input: more detail shows your investment in a positive outcome
• output: encourage more challenges down the road

I have a great corporate training video, if you would like to borrow it.

EXAMPLES :
* Dr. Rosenthal (Harvard, Industrial Psychology) : studied pygmalion effect on rats, elementary classroom students, and welding studing.
* Sweeney's Miracle : Dr. Sweeney saw an undeveloped potential in a janitor George Johnson; he trained him to be a computer programmer and even a trainer.
* Movie : My Fair Lady. Prof. Henry Higgins "you squashed cabbage leaf, . . . I can pass you off as the Queen of Sheeba."
* The stock market depression of the 30's
* Beliefs create reality
* Lee Iacocca's work on Chrysler
* Galatea effect : positive self image can lead to success

* Hawthorne effect : Scientists in the 1930's discovered that workers altered their behavior under observation. Whether the plant's lights were turned up or down, the workers productivity improved. People work better in an environment where they are acknowledged, receive feedback, and responsible for an outcome.

* Placebo effect : People can change a situation with a false confidence in an inert solution.

WARNING : the world is flat

No matter where in the world you are, consider the following International Business motivation :
"Globalization 3.0" will be more diverse business people.

American companies outsource medicine, science, and computing because foreign countries provide better-skilled, more productive people and all at a much better salary.

This generation of Americans are lazy and their education is obsolete. Quoted from Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, in the article cited below : . . ."I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow. In math and science, our 4th graders are among the top students in the world.
By 8th grade, they're in the middle of the pack.
By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations"

Thomas Friedman says :
-Americans have three growing gaps : Ambition, a reduced quantity of educated people in science and engineering, and Education.
-it takes 15 years to train a good engineer
-"girls, finish your homework -- people in China and India are starving for your jobs"


Handy trivia :
1989 : fall of Berlin wall
1989 : MS release of Windows 3.0
1995 : Netscape interface to the Internet


And finally a new word for me; Insourcing vs. outsourcing.

Lets get motivated! I am one-in-a-million, but if I lived in China there would be 1300 others just like me!

friedman, thomas. Its a flat world, after all. NYTimes, 4/3/05

National Disasters : NewOrleans vs. Denver

Quoted from an email thread and truncated:

THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A MOMENT.

Denver Post:This text is from a county emergency manager out in the central part ofColorado after todays snowstorm.
WEATHER BULLETINUp here, in the Northern Plains, we just recovered
from a Historic event---may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cutpower to 10's of thousands.
FYI:George Bush did not come. FEMA did nothing. No one howled for the government.No one blamed the government. No one even uttered an expletive on TVJesse Jackson or Oprah did not visit.Our Mayor did not blame Bush or anyone else.Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else, either.CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC did not visit - or report on this category 5snowstorm. Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House. No one looted. There was no looting. Nobody demanded the government do something. Nobody expected the government to do anything, either. Maybe SOME people will get the message. The world does Not owe you a living.

ACTUALLY : this is untrue. Denver alone spent over $10M to remove the snow and countless millions will be claimed in insurance for property damages. The state of Colorado has declared a state of emergency and asked for Federal relief, aircraft to deliver hay, and the National Guard to rescue people from roads they chose to be stuck on. It is sick to compare the aftermath of a snowstorm to that of a hurricane and flooding that devastated a city.
Denver has taken more than its share of natural disaster money in the past :
October Blizzard of 1997 had a $10.5 million price tag and the infamous 1982 Christmas Blizzard $9.9 million in today's dollars.

The March Blizzard of 2003 cost insurers $93.3 million.

. . . and then there's the hail damage
in July 1990, when a 45-minute hail behemoth generated $625 million in insurance claims

Too many people in Denver were very whiny and greedy when it came to this snowstorm; they forget where they live. With the snow removed, they complain about the potholes.
It is also sick to compare the temporary slowdown of a blizzard to the aftermath of a hurricane and the flooding that wiped out a city.

We cannot purvey criticism and interlorance, because we rarely have all of the facts. This is a society which means that we will all basically act the same way under the same conditions.

1. don't judge lest you will look like a fool.

2. you can find the good or bad human behaviors in every example; focus on the general and the positive

3. you can influence those around you by example

4. donate time to educate the less-fortunate; educated people have less desparation and more control of the outcome of their future

the Intellectual Devotional

My cousin Stacy received this book for Christmas. "365 daily lessons from the seven fields of knowledge"

I picked up a copy and we're reading it together.

It will help you in everything that you do from a better understanding of Aristotle to Zen. Pick it up now, you're not even a week behind!

:
Catch-22; the phrase comes from the same titled book of Joseph Heller. Based on WWII military setting, the highlights follow :
Major Major Major is the name of one character.
Servicemen are promised to be sent home after a required number of missions, but the number keeps growing to prevent their return.
Servicemen find they can be dismissed on the grounds of insanity, but the 'catch-22' is that they are clearly sane enough to fly if they actually put in such a request.
Doc Daneeka is "killed off" in a paperwork error and is unable to convince anyone that he is still alive, including his wife who loves the monthly life insurance payouts.

Islam had a tremendous campaign across the mediterranean through 100 years that followed Muhammed's death in 632 a.d. and were stopped by the French.

The Cathedral of Notre Dame was inspired by the Westminster Abbey and is architected in Gothic design in 1185.

DENVER BRONCOS! Thank you for a fun season. It was so memorable with lots of challenges; I'm excited to see what you will do next season with what you've been working on.

Jay Cutler, you found your groove QUICK!
Jake Plummer and Jason Elam : that was a fantastic fake FG and run. I thought I was watching college football with that creative play. How was that Jason?

We will miss you Darrent Williams.

Please slow it down in the off-season. If you live fast and hard, you just burn up. I've worked with three retired professional athletes who became 'rocket scientists.' The secret to survival is to get one of these mentors and model their lives. Its not too early to be wise with your money and smart with your tongue.

Regards!

Happy New Year!

2007 will be brighter than 06 for you.

Seriously, pick yourself up, take 5 deep, slow breaths, forgive all the wrongdoing from (and to) yourself. Let's go forward.

What's your resolution? Did you write it down? I have two : minimize spending and get organized. Right now they feel contradictory. Being unorganized is a cause for my wild spending. However, I feel that I need to buy some really great gadgets to organize my life and house. I hope that it doesn't take the whole year for me to figure out this conundrum.

If you need a hand or a voice to get started or stay commited, drop a line.