Ep 024: Carly Fiorina

SUMMARY:

What is leadership? A fully-defined framework can help leaders understand what is required of them to move their organization into the future. In this episode, Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, shares her leadership framework by defining the four critical functions of leadership.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• What you are is God’s gift to you. What you make of yourself is your gift to God.
• Leadership is the same no matter the context.
• Everyone has potential. Human potential is the one and only limitless resource we have in this world.
• The highest calling of leadership is to unlock the potential of others.
• Leadership is not management.
• Management is the production of acceptable results within known constraints and conditions.
• Leadership is about changing the order of things.
• The Leadership Framework
  1. Vision, Strategy & Goals: Where are we going and why are we going there?
  2. Organization, Structure & Process: How are we going to work together to get this work done?
  3. Metrics & Results: How are we going to measure progress?
  4. Culture & Behavior: What’s it like to work around here?
• Leaders set the frame, which in turn sets people free to fulfill their greatest potential.
• An organization cannot achieve its potential unless its people achieve theirs.
• 20-20 Rule
  • 20% of people in an organization are change warriors.
  • 20% of people in an organization are the source of the resistance.
  • 60% of people are skeptics. Change never happens unless these people are moved.
  • When 80% of people are engaged in an organization, then forward movement is possible.
• True leadership requires us to understand that it’s not about us, it’s about others.
• Like faith, leadership is a choice. It can be learned by anyone.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. In this talk, Carly Fiorina made a distinction between leadership and management. Management is the production of acceptable results within known constraints and conditions. Leadership is about changing the order of things.
   Think about your work.
   What percentage of your time is spent on management? ___________
   What percentage of your time is spent on leadership? ______________
2. Reflect more narrowly on the part of your job that requires leadership. Upon review of Carly’s leadership framework, how would you evaluate the clarity your team experiences from you in each of the four quadrants? Rate yourself on a scale of 1-5.1 = My team is confused and lacks clarity on our preferred plan in this quadrant
   5 = My team has complete clarity on our preferred plan in this quadrantVision, Strategy & Goals                                     1          2          3          4          5
   Organization, Structure & Process                   1          2          3          4          5
   Metrics & Results                                                 1          2          3          4          5
   Culture & Behaviors                                            1          2          3          4          5
3. Based on your assessment above, what is one thing you could do in the next week to help yourself and your team gain clarity in one of the key leadership framework quadrants?

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Hewlett-Packard

Opportunity International

Good 360

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nelson Mandela

RELATED LINKS:

Rising to the Challenge: My Leadership Journey by Carly Fiorina

The Global Leadership Summit