Category Archives: Intentional Connectors

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New Articles on Pixar and Selecting CEOs

Here are two new articles I wrote that will appear shortly in publications in India and the US. As with all of the articles I write they relate to leadership and employee engagement. Email me at mstallard [at] epluribuspartners [dot] com if you have any comments or suggestions. Thanks – Michael

The Competitive Advantage of Pixar’s Environment  

By Michael Lee Stallard

At the Technical Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood, the Associated Press reported that it wasn’t the host, actress Jessica Beil, who attracted the most attention.

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Lessons I Learned from Stephen Hopson’s Adversity University

There is a lot of talk these days about focusing people on their strengths.  Certainly there’s some wisdom in that but it’s not wise to focus on apparent strengths alone.

Recently, I met an extraordinary man named Stephen Hopson. His life story made me reconsider the wisdom of focusing on apparent strengths. 

Stephen is deaf and has been since birth.  If Stephen had focused on his apparent strengths, what would he have become? Probably not a financial executive on Wall Street, a motivational speaker or an airplane pilot.

Hopson became all of those.

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Employee Engagement During Difficult Times

Here’s another article I’m working on. If you have any suggestions, please email me at mstallard@epluribuspartners.com.

During difficult times it’s natural for anxious individuals to retreat into isolation, a state that nearly always results in diminished productivity. When it comes to the amount of effort employees put in their work, research by the Corporate Leadership Council has shown that emotional connections are on average four times as important as rational factors.  Emotional connections arise when employees feel: 1) proud of their organization’s mission, values and reputation, 2) valued by their supervisor and colleagues, and 3) informed and that their opinions and ideas about matters that are important to them are considered by decision-makers before decisions are made. 

Recently I visited an impressive organization that is poised to continue performing well even through the challenging economic environment we are presently facing.

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Truth, Beauty and Goodness Increase Employee Engagement

Here is the draft of an article I’m working on. What do you think about it?  If you have any comments or suggestions, please email me at mstallard@epluribuspartners.  

Values of Great Leaders Connect with Employees 

 

By Michael Lee Stallard

When people feel emotionally connected, they put more effort in their work. Research bears this out. A 2004 Corporate Leadership Council study of 50,000 employees worldwide concluded that emotional factors were four times as important as rational factors when it came to employee effort.

Great leaders connect on an emotional level with the people they are responsible for leading.   When employees follow their leader’s example, they become more connected with one another, boosting trust, cooperation and esprit de corps throughout the organization. What I have discovered as a leader and as an advisor to leaders over the years is that the emotional connections leaders develop with people are ultimately grounded in the leader’s own values.  The values that foster connection among people come in clusters that I refer to as Truth Values, Beauty Values and Goodness Values.

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Webcast with Charles W. “Willy” Moore, Jr. of Lockheed Martin

Please join me as I host a webcast with Charles W. “Willy” Moore Jr. on January 14, at 11:00 AM Eastern. When I spoke to a group of leaders at Lockheed Martin last year I heard Willy share his thoughts on leadership. He impressed me with his wisdom and extensive experience as a Vice President responsible for a major group at Lockheed and as a Vice Admiral during a distinguished 36-year career in the United States Navy. During his Navy career, Vice Admiral Moore served as a Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Fleet Readiness and Logistics, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and Commander, U.S. Fifth Fleet (1998-2002). In this role VADM Moore commanded all U.S. Naval Forces throughout the Middle East and the Horn of Africa during a time of nearly constant combat. VADM Moore led his forces in combat operations including Infinite Reach after the 1998 Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, Operation Desert Fox in Iraq and subsequent combat in the no-fly zone, Operation Southern Watch, Operation Determined Response after the terrorist bombing of USS Cole and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan fighting the global war on terrorism.

This is a webcast you don’t want to miss. To sign up for the live webcast or to hear a recording, click here.

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Webcast with Tim Sanders, Author of “Saving the World at Work”


On Friday, January 23 at 12:00 PM Eastern Time, I hosted a 30 minute webcast with Tim Sanders, Author of the newly released book Saving the World at Work. Tim also wrote two other outstanding books entitled The Likability Factor and Love is the Killer App. Tim has deep experience in cutting-edge businesses and marketing. He was the Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo! and later their Leadership Coach. Prior to his senior positions at Yahoo!, Tim created and led the Yahoo! ValueLab, an in-house “think tank” which delivered futuristic insight to the company’s partners and clients. To hear the webcast click here.

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How to energize your organization

I just discovered a fascinating article that appeared in the Sloan Management Review about how individuals increase energy in organizations. Several of the practices are germane to employee engagement and Connection Culture Theory. Here’s a copy of the article what-creates-energy-in-organizations

Note: The free download of this article was available on co-author Professor Wayne Baker’s website at the University of Michigan.

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My AMA Podcast on Employee Engagement (now on iTunes)

Today the American Management Association posted a podcast I did with the AMA’s Dave Summers. The topic of the podcast is how to create Connection Cultures that increase employee engagement. You can hear the podcast and even download it on an iPod or iPhone by clicking on employee engagement.

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Warren Buffett: More than an Oracle

Warren Buffett is in the news these days after publicly expressing his confidence in the future of American corporations and recently investing $8 Billion Dollars to purchase interests in GE and Goldman Sachs. With the recent stock market turmoil, many look to the world’s wealthiest man for 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.

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Presidential Leadership: Civility Amidst Stress and the Forces of Incivility

On Thursday John McCain demonstrated the character strength of valor which is defined as speaking up for what is right. As stated in an article that appeared in this morning’sThe New York Times:

When a man told [McCain] he was “scared” of an Obama presidency, Mr. McCain replied, “I want to be president of the United States and obviously I do not want Senator Obama to be, but I have to tell you — I have to tell you — he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared” of “as president of the United States.” The crowd booed loudly at Mr. McCain’s response.