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Few leaders realize how their personal style, mood, and even body language affect their ability to elevate their company to its full potential.
Here are some thoughts about one common and often debilitating trait - perfectionism - which may be subtly sabotaging your success (an excerpt from an article first published in Persuading).
For more on this topic and other agency leadership issues, visit our Articles Archive.
All the best,
Joe Grant
joe@joegrantconsulting.com
P.S. Want more information about what it takes to successfully run an agency in these challenging times? Give us a call 239/394.8220 and we'll discuss the issues you're facing - no obligation whatsoever. Maybe we can collaborate to help you solve them. Find out more about all our services at our website.
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Style Matters: How to Behave When You're The Boss
 If your name is on the door you know what a thin line you teeter on between letting people have their heads and imposing your way. Sure, it's your prerogative to mandate distinctive standards and practices.
We know agencies where you risk the owner's wrath if you use paperclips instead of staples, and there's one place where the president issued a completely serious memo about installing toilet paper so it unrolls from the bottom not the top...because he likes it that way. These may be merely the quirky perks of ownership but your way or the highway can subtly squelch expressive talent in a creative firm and encumber the very thing you're trying to grow.
To you it's doing things the "right way" but to your people, well, it telegraphs that you don't trust them. It signals they're in a parental environment where mom or dad lay down the rules and they're treated as kids (and so they sometimes do behave like children).
If you're the over-controlling type - and you perfectionists out there know who you are - imposing "your way" may engender a culture where employees believe they can't show initiative or take risks without your prior approval. Afraid of upsetting Mr. Big, they'll shrink from trying something inspired or painting outside the lines. Perfectionist conduct may be the reason your place is no fun to work at or why your creative needle is stuck.
Perfectionism is an obsessive style that breeds paralysis in the very companies where creative expression and diverse behavior need to abound. This may be why creative fluency in our industry, in my opinion, appears to have diminished in the past 20 years or so.
Agencies today seem to be more about counting beans than stirring the cauldron of ideas. Well, I suppose it's easier to enforce a rulebook of conformity than shepherd a mass of swirling individualism.
Why do people behave this way? Arthur Freedman, director of organizational development and change at American University says, "At some level of consciousness perfectionists don't believe they know how to handle the demands of the job they're in so they revert or regress down one or two levels to the level where they feel comfortable."
How does that grab you, perfectionists? Could be all kinds of interesting things going on in your psyche when you issue those S.O.P. memos!
Our advice is to think about both the spoken and unspoken rules you've laid down. Are they petty and trite? Do they hold your people back? Can you lighten up a little and let in more self-rule?
Leading a company is a lot like skiing - you'll go faster when you lean back a bit.
[You'll find a copy of the complete article covering eight common leadership style miscues with suggestions for avoiding them on our website.]
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| Your Job Description |
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Speaking of leadership, do you actually know what you're supposed to do as CEO? Here's a link to a quick article about what an agency top-guy should do, The Agency CEO's Job Description. Check out other related insights in our Article Archive.
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| Lorem Ipsum |
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How many times have you seen or used Lorem Ipsum? Bet you have no idea where it comes from, how long it's been around, and what it means. It's an interesting story and all the answers are here.
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| Channel Hopping |
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You know how much fun it can be in a foreign hotel room to turn on the TV and watch programs and spots in an unfamiliar language? Now there's a website dedicated to streaming television programs from more than 950 TV stations from around the world. When was the last time you checked out what's on KTV in Kurdistan?
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| Changing Horses |
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Lately several crisp (as in burned out) agency owners have gotten in touch inquiring about tossing in the towel and starting small home-based businesses instead of continuing to struggle to eke out a living in the ad biz. So here's a resource from Entrepreneur magazine about relaunching yourself. Let me know how it turns out.
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| Font-tastic |
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What do Catholic School Girl, Electric Dysentery, and Fat Stack have in common? They're all new fonts available at 1001 Fonts.
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| About Grant Consulting
Grant Consulting, formed in 1992 by Joe Grant, is a consultative resource for advertising agency principals who want to improve their companies. The firm works exclusively with senior managers to help them discover and then reach their full potential. Copyright 2005 Grant Consulting Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. We encourage sharing in whole or in part if copyright and attribution are included. Contact us at:
Grant Consulting
239.394.8220
joe@joegrantconsulting.com
www.joegrantconsulting.com
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