Category: Change

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Leadership In The News: What Happens When What You Say Is Not What Your Boss Says (or Believes)?

Former World Wrestling Champion, Hulk Hogan (Terry Gene Bollea) was dismissed by the WWE after some racial slurs and comments became known. Hulk Hogan, the Hulkster, the architect of Hulkamania was the face of the WWE, since 1977, along with Vince McMahon, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, The Iron Sheik, Andre the Giant, The Undertaker and countless others. Hogan was the one wrestler that helped keep the WWE alive during the lean years. Hogan helped bring it back to the level of popularity that the WWE now so richly deserves and enjoys.

That does not excuse the Hogan’s behavior concerning his thoughts, words or deeds, especially when he is using the moniker that is synonymous with the WWE. Seriously, if you have not been living under a rock since 1977 then you know when one says WWE or its precursor WWF you automatically think Hulk Hogan. Actually, by having such high prestige in American popular culture it discourages any misbehavior whether as the Hulk Hogan or as Terry Bollea.

Hogan was known by all. Young, old, short, tall, American, Japanese, Rich, Poor, White Collar, Blue collar, Black, Brown, White, Red, Purple, whatever everyone knew who Hulk Hogan is or was. His popularity crossed ALL lines of socio-economic statuses. The character known as Hulk Hogan was loved by so many and hated by so few. This guy brought in then all in. He was an equal opportunity wrestler. This is what made the WWE’s popularity soar because the demographics that they were attracting were off the scale. There is no one segment, exclusively, that has bought in to the WWE. They all were brought in. Actually, the majority came willingly while the others came in because that is what their Parents experienced or Big Brother watched. That is a very good thing for business.

However, when the top performer in the WWE or any other organization, does something to undermine what has been built for almost 40 years there can be no room for anything less than complete dismissal. Being Hulk Hogan does not give him carte blanche to do as he pleases nor does it allow the leadership of the organization to overlook any of his questionable actions. The same applies to a “Rock Star” in any organization.

Rules are rules and when those rules are broken consequences follow. When Hulk Hogan’s “racial tirade” came to light what else could the WWE do? Here the organization spent all this time, energy, and money building a brand that has a net worth of $1.6 billion. When someone does something that has to potential to alienate a huge portion of its customer and fan base the organization must do something.

Thus, the WWE acted appropriately when it decided it was best to break ties with Hogan. Here this guy, the voice of the WWE saying and doing things that will splinter the WWE’s audience and alienate a fan-base that took generations to create, cultivate, and empower. The organization’s leadership had no choice but to cut those ties. It had no choice to do so in the way that it did.

Anyone in business would do the exact same thing. The customer is king when it comes to the “entertainment” industry. When you are the only game in town, you cannot rest on your laurels and for one-second think, you got it made. The same applies to any business and that is why it was perfectly acceptable for the leadership to step up the way it did and do what it did.

Of course, it may have taken the Hulkster by surprise but then again, over the course of his long and illustrious career he has seen the exact same thing happen to other professionals (wrestlers and non-wrestlers alike). Thus, it should have come as no surprise when the axe fell on him. Remember, people will eventually forget the man but never the words or actions.

What the public will never forget is how the leadership of an organization handles the tough times and what it does to weather the storm caused by a few or one in order to save the lives and in this case the livelihood of the many.

ref: http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/news/hulk-hogan-fired-by-wwe-over-racial-tirade-20150724

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Change Current Events Leadership Walking Leader

THE WALKING LEADER’S RULE #8 TRY OUT THEIR WORK in the news: Olive Garden

Rule #8 in THE WALKING LEADER is TRY OUT THEIR WORK & NEW OLIVE GARDEN OWNERS DID SO!

The Walking Leader’s Rule #8 focuses on leaders getting into the trenches and trying out the job of the people that are in the various front line locations in the organization. Of course, there are a few stipulations that can prevent a Walking Leader from doing someone’s job, such as lack of security clearance or equipment use certification. However, for the most part anyone and everyone in a leadership position should try out all the jobs that they can within their organization.

Recently, several investors of the Starboard Value, a hedge fund and owner of the largest stake in the Olive Garden restaurant chain did just that. They worked shifts in the kitchen and waited tables at an Olive Garden restaurant. The members of Starboard Value certainly knew that they had to get a realistic feel of what it is like to work at Olive Garden, especially after getting bashed by its customers and critics for its bad food, too much waste (i.e., unlimited bread sticks and salad) and overall dated look and attitude.

The hedge fund owners of the restaurant chain certainly stunned many by taking the initiative, jumping into the trenches, and filling a few sand bags or in this case, waiting tables and cooking up some pasta e fagioli.

In The Walking Leader, I mention how important it is for leaders to get a true understanding of all the jobs that are performed in the organization. It gives the leaders a unique perspective on how things are done now versus how things were done in the past.

Having the Starboard Value hedge fund leaders dive right in to the thick of it, they get to see what the front line staff see all the time. If only ALL organizations (private and public sector) had such leadership and initiative there would not be half the problems we have now. Imagine, a state agency that would operate a level of competency because the state headquarters staff got an opportunity to see what life was like during the graveyard shift at a 24/7 state facility. Imagine, how organizations such as Enron would have had a difficult time hiding all the nonsense they did manage to hide. Who knows Enron might still have been a major player in the energy industry?

Since this “TRY OUT THEIR WORK” event took place, Darden Restaurants stock value has climbed “4% and hit a new all-time high in the process.” This is good for Darden, Starboard Value, stock holders and most of all to its customers. It is the customer that is currently and will continue to benefit the most.

Disclosure: I own stock in DARDEN RESTAURANTS [NYSE: DRI]. It is not a lot but I do have Darden stock in my portfolio.

THE WALKING LEADER: The 20 Rules You Can Follow Now to Guide You Down the Path of Leadership Greatness is the first book in the Walking Leader series written by David G. Guerra.
(click here to order a paperback copy or for Amazon Kindle )

reference: http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/02/news/companies/olive-garden-starboard/, http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/23/investing/olive-garden-darden-restaurants-earnings/index.html

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blog Change Current Events Leadership

#LEADERSHIP IN THE NEWS: Planning an Prison Break?

#Leadership in the news: Planning a Prison Break?

By now, almost everyone has heard of the two escapees from the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York State. By now, the news is getting old and a little tiring. These two guys escaped from prison so what? It happens all the time. It really does! Somewhere in the world someone is trying to come up with a way to get out of the prison they are currently confined. Their escape plan might include flying themselves over the prison walls. They could be planning to dig a tunnel that would rival anything seen on Hogan’s Heroes or whatever they could be cooking up.

You would be surprised at just how many escapes are being formulated at this very moment. However, in the case of the two escapees in New York, they planned this escape for five months. They came up with the plan; they worked the plan that included getting others involved. They then fine-tuned the plan. Then executed the plan. When things went wrong they adjusted their plan. This worked because as of this writing, they have not been re-captured.

So what does this have to do with leadership? It has plenty to do with leadership. All leaders must know how to and properly utilize the planning process.

It is all about plans and planning. The convicts planned an escape. The prison system had a plan in place on dealing with an escape, prison riots, when a prisoner gets a Dear John letter. There is even a plan for when the inmates use the restroom or shower.

When the escape took place, someone was not there to execute her part of the plan, thus the plan became worthless. However, as they have not been recaptured it is obvious that the two escapees have adjusted their plan and remain on the run.

For the correctional facility, the plan to recapture the escapees has not gone as anticipated. They deployed search parties, set up roadblocks, even went door to door to no avail. While they are still executing their plan, the expected outcome is yet to be achieved. Thus, this plan while not yet rendered worthless continues to be adjusted accordingly.

This makes it a classic example of General Eisenhower’s famous quote, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.“

They both had a plan of action that they were able to follow until the moment something happened that was not part of the plan. There are just too many variables (both known and unknown) that influence the outcome of any plan.

Q: What do you do when your plans do not got as planned?

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT advocating the escape of any convicted criminal from any correctional or detention facility. They are in a CORRECTIONAL FACILITY for a reason and are expected to remain there until they have successfully completed their sentence or properly released.