How Do You Manage People These Days?

"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless—like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle; you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend. "

— Bruce Lee, actor, martial artist

Welcome to The Credo of the Liquid Leader

It was all the way back in 1997, but I remember the invitation card well. Printed on a bone-white stock, it cordially requested the presence of my wife and me at the State Theater at New York City’s Lincoln Center, to attend Forbes magazine’s eightieth anniversary party. Clearly etched on the invitation was a quote by the science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

It was one of my own favorite quotes, but I wondered why it had been included on the invitation. Did it refer to the wave of new technology brought about by the dot-com revolution, or only to the fact that the magician David Copperfield was scheduled to kick off the festivities with a private performance?

I was, at that point in my career, very familiar with dot coms, having cofounded one myself only a few years earlier: K2 Design, Inc. Not only had Douglas Cleek and I created the first full-service interactive agency in the history of advertising, but we’d given the world its first dot-com as well, launching our IPO in 1996 for $7 million. It had taken a lot of ninety-five-hour weeks to sustain a growth rate of 425 percent for five straight years, and by the time of the Forbes magazine party, I was feeling tired in every way possible—mentally, emotionally, and physically. Even so, I was ready to be entertained.

Torrential rain had fallen from the Manhattan skies at the exact moment my wife and I had been required to exit our cab, sans umbrella, at the front of the New York State Theater (now the David H. Koch Theater), and hustle across the pavement. We arrived in the main hall a little wet— and promptly forgot about it, dazzled as we were by the oversize glass diamonds inlaid into fifty-foot expanses of crushed burgundy- and gold- colored velvet, stretching from floor to ceiling. There’s a reason they nicknamed this theater the Jewelry Box.

As we took our seats, I noticed members of the Forbes family sitting in the balconies. The lights dimmed. Steve Forbes and many of the people associated with Forbes magazine took to the podium and spoke.

Then the real presentation began. A fifteen-minute movie explained to the New York business elite that every hundred years a technological revolution comes along that’s so big, it changes our way of life forever. They were talking about the Internet and about the young entrepreneurs who were permanently changing the business landscape. I thought, "So that’s why I was invited."

Of course the movie ended with the same Arthur C. Clarke quote from the invitation, blazing from the screen in gigantic white letters against a burnt sienna background:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Then the movie screen disappeared, and David Copperfield performed some “real” magic.

After an amazingly intimate performance made up of big-stage illusions mixed with sleight-of-hand card tricks and ending with an indoor snowstorm, we returned to the main lobby. Under dim lights, surrounded by neon-lit palm trees and waiters and waitresses in sci-fi costumes, we watched as a light show and dance music turned the sweeping carpeted staircases and marble-floored lobby into a scene from the future. It seemed as if we had been beamed into the future. Over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, I met Donald Trump and David Copperfield. This was Yuge;-)

Far away from the festivities, I noticed, Steve Forbes and his wife, Sabina, were enjoying the party—and strangely enough, without facing a long line of well-wishers. I introduced myself and my wife, and we spent twenty minutes chatting with our hosts. It was as if we were old friends.

“I just took my company public,” I told him. “And which one is that?” He appeared to be genuinely curious. “K2 Design.” “Congratulations. You know, because of guys like you, things will never
be the same.” That was an understatement. Yet as a longtime entrepreneur, I hadn’t seen anything special about what I’d been doing. To me it was just another business venture.

That was the moment I first began to step outside my old paradigm. It wouldn’t be long before I realized that the dot-com boom had been the direct result of a different kind of thinking—not just technological advances, but a new type of computer-savvy workforce, with workers who acted more like entrepreneurs than employees. With global opportunities at our fingertips, the business world was undergoing a fundamental change. Something new was on the horizon, but where and how would we get there?

And then an even bigger question: Who would lead us? Historic hierarchies were in the process of being destroyed. Everyone would soon be a potential leader—not just the Boomers, but the Gen Xers and Gen Y Millennials whose creativity I’d tapped at K2, and the future generations. We’d be responsible not just for our own careers but also for the futures of our organizations. To make this new era of leadership work, we’d need a primer, a set of basic laws.

That primer—the result of long and hard-thought research, seasoning, and battlefield testing—is what you now hold in your hands. As a speaker and coach, I teach entrepreneurs, executives, and businesses leaders how to manage themselves and their organizations in a time of radical change.

At the center of my teaching is the concept I call “Liquid Leadership.” The new leadership requires adaptability, transparency, and strength, all of which are characteristics of water. Instead of resisting change, aren’t we better off adopting a flexible attitude, in which anything is possible? Indeed we are, so long as we observe the immutable laws I’ve identified for a Liquid Leader.

There are seven of these laws. Over the next 7 weeks, I will lay before you my credo...the Credo of a Liquid Leader; management techniques I have implemented to run over 8 successful companies.

Even if you try just one, you WILL see results. Enjoy...

Brad Szollose
Global Management Consultant
Millennial Expert, Cross Generational Leadership Development & Workforce Performance Strategies, Executive Coach

Brad Szollose (pronounced zolis), is a globally recognized Management Consultant and the foremost authority on Millennials and Cross-Generational Leadership Development Strategies.

TEDX Speaker, Web pioneer and the author of the award-winning, bestseller Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia, Brad is a former C-level executive of a publicly traded company that he cofounded that went from entrepreneurial start-up to IPO in three years; the first Dot Com Agency to go public on NASDAQ. His company K2 Design, experienced 425% hyper-growth, due in part to a unique management style that won his company the Arthur Andersen NY Enterprise Award for Best Practices in Fostering Innovation.
 

Today the world’s leading business publications seek out Brad’s insights on Millennials, and he has been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Inc., Advertising Age, The International Business Times, and The Hindu BusinessLine to name a few, along with television, radio and podcast appearances on CBS and other media outlets. 

 

Brad's programs have transformed a new generation of business leaders, helping them maximize their corporate culture, expectations, productivity, and sales growth in The Information Age. 

* 2011 Axiom Business Book silver medal winner in the leadership

* #1 Amazon Best-Selling Author

"I just had my mind blown..." - A.S., Vistage, New York

Liquid Leadership by Brad Szollose is available at all major bookstores and for Kindle, Nook, iPad and Sony ereaders. Internationally published in India and S. Korea.

Credo 1: A Leader Places People First

Continuing the Credo for 21st Century Management from Liquid Leadership:

1st Law:
A Liquid Leader Places People First

All I hear about these days is how technology is changing the world and how we will never be the same. I love technology, but I come from a different perspective: The most important changes concern people. Technology is just a tool to get the job done.

Any battlefield general knows that victory depends on the commitment and well-being of the men and women on the front lines. They are the ones facing the gunfire, so they need good food, excellent equipment, and a solid line of communication to perform at their best. The fact is, these troops understand that they’re part of a team. Their reliance on one another’s skill set is paramount to success, especially in the heat of battle—much more so than on the commanders safely sitting behind the lines.

But they still need to know that someone at the top gives a damn. In this sense, the president of a company is in the same position as a battlefield general. Treat your people badly and you will fail, whether you are a Baby Boomer in the executive office or a Gen Y programmer working out of your apartment. Baby Boomers tend to isolate themselves from younger people and treat them as expendable kids, while Gen Yers tend to undervalue the experience of Boomers and ignore them. Either attitude is a mistake and insulting.

In the new business environment, stereotypes spell doom. Regardless of generational differences, people in large organizations must respect one another as people—with different talents, moods, interests, skill sets, strengths, and weaknesses that contribute to an organization’s uniqueness. Your brand is only as strong as the talent it retains. Helping your people understand that shifts in organizational responsibilities also create shifts in person-to-person relationships will make change management a little bit easier.

Currently Boomers need to rely heavily on Gen Y because most of the technology, methodologies, and social networks in use today did not exist five years ago. At the same time Gen Y needs to trust Boomers, who rely on strategy and cunning to win the day. Getting both sides to the table is no easy task, and running a meeting will be more like a coaching session—but the payoff will be incredibly rewarding as you begin to see how technology, when used properly, can rock your customers’ world.

By placing people first, you create a sense that everyone is working toward something greater and bigger than themselves. Support the rich ideas of your talent pool, and it becomes easier to tap into it. And just as troops support and protect one another on the front line, your people will support and protect one another—as well as you, their leader.

In companies like this, management is connected and knows every inch of their organization’s potential.

Want to discover breakthrough ideas? Listen to the people on the front lines...

Brad Szollose
Global Management Consultant
Millennial Expert, Cross Generational Leadership Development & Workforce Performance Strategies, Executive Coach

Brad Szollose (pronounced zolis), is a globally recognized Management Consultant and the foremost authority on Millennials and Cross-Generational Leadership Development Strategies.

TEDX Speaker, Web pioneer and the author of the award-winning, bestseller Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia, Brad is a former C-level executive of a publicly traded company that he cofounded that went from entrepreneurial start-up to IPO in three years; the first Dot Com Agency to go public on NASDAQ. His company K2 Design, experienced 425% hyper-growth, due in part to a unique management style that won his company the Arthur Andersen NY Enterprise Award for Best Practices in Fostering Innovation.
 

Today the world’s leading business publications seek out Brad’s insights on Millennials, and he has been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Inc., Advertising Age, The International Business Times, and The Hindu BusinessLine to name a few, along with television, radio and podcast appearances on CBS and other media outlets. 

Brad's programs have transformed a new generation of business leaders, helping them maximize their corporate culture, expectations, productivity, and sales growth in The Information Age. 

* 2011 Axiom Business Book silver medal winner in the leadership

* #1 Amazon Best-Selling Author

"I just had my mind blown..." - A.S., Vistage, New York

Liquid Leadership by Brad Szollose is available at all major bookstores and for Kindle, Nook, iPad and Sony ereaders. Internationally published in India and S. Korea.

Credo 2: A Leader Cultivates an Environment Where It Is Safe to Tell the Truth

Continuing the Credo for 21st Century Management from Liquid Leadership:

2nd Law:
A Liquid Leader Cultivates an Environment
Where It Is Free and Safe to Tell the Truth

Ever work for a company that micromanages everything to death? In these environments a paper trail becomes more important than getting the work done.

Our current enthusiasm for technology has created even more potential for micromanagement, via massive amounts of emails and documentation and endless meetings to sort through it all. Yet when this temptation is given into, the result isn’t better communication or higher productivity, but the opposite. Management becomes the last to know what is actually happening.

Conversely, in companies that have moved to flatten their hierarchies and create environments where it is safer to point out the truth, you begin to notice that each person takes their role seriously. When responsibility is shifted to the individual—when people are given the freedom and power to manage their time and solve problems—the result is that no one wants to let down even a single member of their team.

An organization like this runs more smoothly and with more trust. The best and the brightest naturally gravitate toward the chance to work with one another. They know courage will be rewarded, not penalized, and innovation will see the light of day. Such environments operate like entrepreneurial start-ups, with each individual engaged in the success of the company.

People are encouraged to challenge one another. They operate with confidence and a sense of personal ambition because they have skin in the game.

This approach may fly in the face of every business manual you have ever read, but those manuals are out of date. We are not in easy times. Consider that betting on one direction or a single type of technology can send a company into bankruptcy overnight. All the more reason to put aside your ego, to listen, and to encourage the sharing of knowledge in every area of an organization’s operations.

 

Environments such as these do not centralize creativity; they make it a systemic part of what drives their entire organization.

 

It is your job as a leader to support the development and creation of big ideas, integrating them into your company’s mix of products. 

And that brings us to the next law...Nurturing a Creative Culture.

Brad Szollose
Global Management Consultant
Millennial Expert, Cross Generational Leadership Development & Workforce Performance Strategies, Executive Coach

Brad Szollose (pronounced zolis), is a globally recognized Management Consultant and the foremost authority on Millennials and Cross-Generational Leadership Development Strategies.

TEDX Speaker, Web pioneer and the author of the award-winning, bestseller Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia, Brad is a former C-level executive of a publicly traded company that he cofounded that went from entrepreneurial start-up to IPO in three years; the first Dot Com Agency to go public on NASDAQ. His company K2 Design, experienced 425% hyper-growth, due in part to a unique management style that won his company the Arthur Andersen NY Enterprise Award for Best Practices in Fostering Innovation.
 

Today the world’s leading business publications seek out Brad’s insights on Millennials, and he has been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Inc., Advertising Age, The International Business Times, and The Hindu BusinessLine to name a few, along with television, radio and podcast appearances on CBS and other media outlets. 

Brad's programs have transformed a new generation of business leaders, helping them maximize their corporate culture, expectations, productivity, and sales growth in The Information Age. 

* 2011 Axiom Business Book silver medal winner in the leadership

* #1 Amazon Best-Selling Author

"I just had my mind blown..." - A.S., Vistage, New York

Liquid Leadership by Brad Szollose is available at all major bookstores and for Kindle, Nook, iPad and Sony ereaders. Internationally published in India and S. Korea.