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Warren Buffett’s 3 Practices that Attract and Retain Top Talent

Many people look to Warren Buffett for investment guidance, and rightly so.  Buffett is widely recognized as an exceptional judge of corporate value. “The Oracle of Omaha,” as he is known, is arguably the most successful investor in history. Corporate leaders regularly make the trek to Omaha, Nebraska, seeking his wisdom.

With so much attention on Buffett’s investment acumen, it’s easy to overlook another talent: motivating people. It’s one of a host of reasons his investments tend to outperform the market.

The talented managers who run Buffett’s companies remain with him because he keeps them engaged in their jobs.  In Buffett’s own words, “Charlie [Charlie Munger, Buffett’s longtime business partner] and I mainly attend to capital allocation and the care and feeding of our key managers . . . Most of our managers are independently wealthy and it’s up to us to create a climate that encourages them to choose working with Berkshire over golfing or fishing.”

A closer look at Buffett shows, at least in part, how he does it.

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Stay Aligned With Core Values

Ritz Carlton Values on Card#20 Stay Aligned with Core Values

Take your direct reports through the final core values you decided upon. Discuss which values are most important to your team’s success, which values your team is strong in, which values it needs to develop and what can be done to live them out. Follow up with a written summary of action items, responsibilities and due dates that come out of the meeting. Meet periodically to review and revise the action plan. Ask your direct reports to do the same with their direct reports.

Consider having your core values printed on a small card that can fit in a wallet. Each Ritz-Carlton employee receives a card with the organization’s core values (called “Ritz Basics”) printed on the front and back sides of the card. Teams meet briefly every day to review one of the 20 Ritz-Carlton values and each week one example of a Ritz-Carlton employee who lived out a value is shared with all Ritz-Carlton employees worldwide.

This is the twentieth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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Practical Advice for the New World of Business

Age of The Customer Book CoverJim Blasingame’s new book, The Age of the Customer: Prepare for the Moment of Relevance, provides a practical guide to help business leaders prepare for the shift from the age of the seller to the age of the customer. What makes this book stand out from others is the thoroughness with which Blasingame has thought through this shift and what businesses need to do to survive and thrive.

Blasingame is well positioned for this task. He is the host of the nationally syndicated “Small Business Advocate” radio program where he interviews a wide-variety of experts. (I’m a regular guest on the show as an expert on employee engagement.)

This is a book you will want to read with a pad of paper and pen handy to write down the ideas and actions you learn. The sheer breadth of topics Blasingame covers – branding, communications, globalization, marketing, organization culture, outsourcing, processes, quality, sales, social media, etc. – is impressive. He effectively connects the dots of what he’s learned from an army of experts, makes sense of it and explains it in clear, concise language.

I could not recommend this book more highly. For a business owner, it’s not one to be missed.

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To Connect, Communicate Meaningful Core Values

Woman looking into distance whilst thinking#19 Reflect Upon, Write Out and Communicate Your Core Values

Take time alone to reflect on the values you believe in and want to live out in your life. For inspiration, read Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz’s excellent book Pour Your Heart Into It and read the Montpelier Command Philosophy in Fired Up or Burned Out. Write out your core values in a manner that is similar to the Montpelier Command Philosophy, i.e name the value, explain what it means and why you believe it’s important. Ask trusted friends whom you respect to read your values and provide feedback about “what’s right, what’s wrong and what’s missing” from them. When you believe your draft is in good shape, share it with your direct reports and ask them to provide feedback about “what’s right, what’s wrong and what’s missing.” Consider the feedback, make the changes that you believe improve it and then circulate the final to your direct reports.

This is the nineteenth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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3 Practices CEOs Can Learn from the Girl Scouts

Girl Scout Cookie BoxesIn most communities, January through April is the time of year when the girls in green are out in full force selling Girl Scout cookies. Can you imagine a world without Thin Mints®, Tagalongs® and Do-si-dos®?  Sadly, they were once at risk.

There was a time in the mid-1970s when the Girl Scouts were struggling and their future looked uncertain. Fortunately, Frances Hesselbein came to the rescue. Although she had no daughters, Mrs. Hesselbein had begun her association with the Girl Scouts when she agreed to help with a troop of 30 girls in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that had lost its leader. It wasn’t long before Hesselbein’s experience with Troop 17 developed into a lifelong commitment to Girl Scouting. In 1976 she became CEO of the national organization, Girl Scouts of the USA.

With membership falling, and the organization in a state of serious decline, Mrs. Hesselbein put sound management practices in place. During her twenty-four-year tenure, Girl Scout membership quadrupled to nearly three and a half million, diversity more than tripled, and the organization was transformed into what Peter Drucker described as “the best-managed organization around.” Hesselbein accomplished the amazing turnaround with a paid staff of 6,000 and 730,000 volunteers.

Here are three practices that helped Frances Hesselbein put the Girls Scouts on a track for success.

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To Reinforce Connection, Replenish the Vision

Group of people raising arms in air in excitement

#18 Replenish the Vision

Vision leaks, so look for ways to keep your organization and team’s mission, values and reputation in front of your team. Take employees out to visit customers or bring customers in to talk with employees about how they use your products or services and how it benefits them. Keep up with articles and press releases on your organization then circulate those that reinforce the mission, values and reputation.

This is the eighteenth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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When “Failure Is Not an Option”

Some years ago I ran into the director Ron Howard at our local Starbucks. I said hello and told him how much I enjoyed the movie “Apollo 13,” which, in case you didn’t know, he directed.

“Apollo 13” is a remarkable movie. It captures the story of one of NASA’s finest moments, when the NASA team’s extraordinary willpower, energy and creativity snatched the Apollo 13 crew from the jaws of death after an electrical malfunction impaired the spacecraft’s guidance and oxygen systems. Gene Kranz, flight director for the Apollo 13 mission, led the rescue effort. During one of the movie’s best moments, Kranz (played by actor Ed Harris) rallies the troops and declares with resolve that “failure is not an option.”

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Connect by Cascading Your Vision

Leader Discussing Plans with Team

#17 Cascade Your Vision

When Frances Hesselbein led a remarkable turnaround of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. she implemented an inclusive annual planning process. Frances communicated the vision, mission and annual objectives then explained why each objective was selected. She gave people a voice to provide feedback about “what’s right, what’s wrong and what’s missing” from the vision and annual objectives. Her leadership team considered the feedback, made adjustments and communicated the final plan.

You should do the same. At some point in the year, repeat the process after you’ve factored in how well your plans are working and what adjustments are warranted given more current information. An inclusive process to establish annual objectives and action plans engages people and helps them align their behavior with the plan. If you want to learn more about a detailed process to implement this approach, read Michael Kanazawa and Robert Miles’ book Big Ideas to Big Results.

This is the seventeenth post in our series entitled “100 Ways to Connect.” The series highlights language, attitudes and behaviors that help you connect with others. Although the language, attitudes and behaviors focus on application in the workplace, you will see that they also apply to your relationships at home and in the community.

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7 Practices of Alan Mulally that Helped Ford Pass Competitors

As seen on The remarkable turnaround of Ford led by Alan Mulally — without U.S. government financial aid — provides an outstanding example of how to gain competitive advantage through organizational culture.

When Mulally arrived at Ford in 2006, the automaker’s culture could be described as silo rivalries with leaders embroiled in turf wars. This culture drove Ford to the verge of bankruptcy.

Following are seven practices that helped Mulally save Ford by transforming its dog-eat-dog culture into a sled dog team that pulls together.