How leaders create and use networks

Most people acknowledge that networking-creating a fabric of personal contacts to provide support, feedback, insight, and resources--is an essential activity for an ambitious manager. Indeed, it's a requirement even for those focused simply on doing their current jobs well. For some, this is a distasteful reality. Working through networks, they believe,means relying on "who you know" rather than "what you know"--a hypocritical, possibly unethical, way to get things done. But even people who understand that networking is a legitimate and necessary part of their jobs can be discouraged by the payoff--because they are doing it in too limited a fashion. On the basis of a close study of 30 emerging leaders, the authors outline three distinct forms of networking. Operational networking is geared toward doing one's assigned tasks more effectively. It involves cultivating stronger relationships with colleagues whose membership in the network is clear; their roles define them as stakeholders. Personal networking engages kindred spirits from outside an organization in an individual's efforts to learn and find opportunities for personal advancement. Strategic networking puts the tools of networking in the service of business goals. At this level, a manager creates the kind of network that will help uncover and capitalize on new opportunities for the company. The ability to move to this level of networking turns out to be a key test of leadership. Companies often recognize that networks are valuable, andthey create explicit programs to support them. But typically these programs facilitate only operational networking. Likewise, industry associations provide formal contexts for personal networking. The unfortunate effect is to give managers the impression that they know how to network and are doing so sufficiently. A sidebar notes the implication for companies' leadership development initiatives: that teaching strategic networking skills will serve their aspiring leaders and their business goals well.     

How strategists really think. Tapping the power of analogy

Leaders tend to be so immersed in the specifics of strategy that they rarely stop to think how much of their reasoning is done by analogy. As a result, they miss useful insights that psychologists and other scientists have generated about analogies' pitfalls. Managers who pay attention to their own analogical thinking will make better strategic decisions and fewer mistakes. Charles Lazarus was inspired by the supermarket when he founded Toys R Us; Intel promoted its low-end chips to avoid becoming like U.S. Steel; and Circuit City created CarMax because it saw the used-car market as analogous to the consumer-electronics market. Each example displays the core elements of analogical reasoning: a novel problem or a new opportunity, a specific prior context that managers deem to be similar in its essentials, and a solution that managers can transfer from its original setting to the new one. Analogical reasoning is a powerful tool for sparking breakthrough ideas. But dangers arise when analogies are built on surface similarities (headlong diversification based on loose analogies played a role in Enron's collapse, for instance). Psychologists have discovered that it's all too easy to overlook the superficiality of analogies. The situation is further complicated by people's tendency to hang on to beliefs even after contrary evidence comes along (a phenomenon known as anchoring) and their tendency to seek only the data that confirm their beliefs (an effect known as the confirmation bias). Four straightforward steps can improve a management team's odds of using an analogy well: Recognize the analogy and identify its purpose; thoroughly understand its source; determine whether the resemblance is more than superficial; and decide whether the original strategy, properly translated, will work in the target industry.     

Developing first-level leaders

Oil and energy corporation BP was well aware of the importance of its work group managers on the front lines. Their decisions, in aggregate, make an enormous difference in BP's turnover, costs, quality control, safety, innovation, and environmental performance. There were about 10,000 such supervisors, working in every part of the company-from solar plants in Spain, to drilling platforms in the North Sea, to marketing teams in Chicago. Some 70% to 80% of BP employees reported directly to these lower-level managers. Yet, until recently, the corporation didn't have a comprehensive training program--let alone an official name--for them. For their part, the frontline managers felt disconnected; it was often hard for them to understand how their individual decisions contributed to the growth and reputation of BP as a whole. In this article, BP executive Andreas Priestland and Dialogos VP Robert Hanig describe how BP in the past five years has learned to connect with this population of managers. After one and a half years of design and development, there is now a companywide name--"first-level leaders"--and a comprehensive training program for this cohort. The authors describe the collaborative effort they led to create the program's four components: Supervisory Essentials, Context and Connections, the Leadership Event, and Peer Partnerships. The design team surveyed those it had deemed first-level leaders and others throughout BP; extensively benchmarked other companies' training efforts for lower-level managers; and conducted a series of pilot programs that involved dozens of advisers. The training sessions were first offered early in 2002, and since then, more than 8000 of BP's first-level leaders have attended. The managers who've been through training are consistently ranked higher in performance than those who haven't, both by their bosses and by the employees who report to them, the authors say.     

关于开发性金融的文化思考

继承和发展优秀传统文化,是我们厚积薄发的重要条件。中国文化族群互助的优良传统、中庸平衡的发展思想、和谐为本的道德情怀和艰苦奋斗、勤俭节约的创业精神,具有巨大潜在力量,是我们做好工作的历史基础。中国强有力的政治组织优势特别有利于集中力量办大事,有利于打集群战役,有利于推动社会化的信用体制建设     

A survival guide for leaders

Let's face it, to lead is to live dangerously. While leadership is often viewed as an exciting and glamorous endeavor, one in which you inspire others to follow you through good times and bad, such a portrayal ignores leadership's dark side: the inevitable attempts to take you out of the game. This is particularly true when a leader must steer an organization through difficult change. When the status quo is upset, people feel a sense of profound loss and dashed expectations. They may need to undergo a period of feeling incompetent or disloyal. It's no wonder they resist the change and often try to eliminate its visible agent. This "survival guide" offers a number of techniques--relatively straightforward in concept but difficult to execute--for protecting yourself as you lead such a change initiative. Adapted from the book Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading (Harvard Business School Press, 2002), the article has two main parts. The first looks outward, offering tactical advice about relating to your organization and the people in it. It is designed to protect you from those who would push you aside before you complete your initiatives. The second looks inward, focusing on your own needs and vulnerabilities. It is designed to keep you from bringing yourself down. The hard truth is that it is not possible to experience the rewards and joys of leadership without experiencing the pain as well. But staying in the game and bearing that pain is worth it, not only for the positive changes you can make in the lives of others but also for the meaning it gives your own.     

商机也产生于智库

中国在“一带一路”战略实施的过程中应把握哪些原则？智库应在其间发挥哪些作用？智库应该为中国企业“走出去”提供哪些切实可行的服务？为此,《国际融资》杂志记者独家专访了全国人大常委会委员、外事委员会副主任委员,中国社会科学院蓝迪国际智库项目专家委员会主席赵白鸽。     

Why leaders don't learn from success

What causes so many companies that once dominated their industries to slide into decline? In this article, two Harvard Business School professors argue that such firms lose their touch because success breeds failure by impeding learning at both the individual and organizational levels. When we succeed, we assume that we know what we are doing, but it could be that we just got lucky. We make what psychologists call fundamental attribution errors, giving too much credit to our talents and strategy and too tittle to environmental factors and random events. We develop an overconfidence bias, becoming so self-assured that we think we don't need to change anything. We also experience the failure-to-ask-why syndrome and neglect to investigate the causes of good performance. To overcome these three learning impediments, executives should examine successes with the same scrutiny they apply to failures. Companies should implement systematic after-action reviews to understand all the factors that led to a win, and test their theories by conducting experiments even if "it ain't broke."     

Short-term leaders should make long-term appointments

Top decision-makers (such as the U.S. President) often serve short terms, but make decisions with consequences long after they are gone. (Appointments of judges or of Federal Reserve Board members are two examples.) When a leader can choose his effort on an appointment, the organization’s performance may increase when the minimum term for an appointment increases, and when decisions are irreversible. In addition, ideological preferences can lead to better appointments.     

Almost ready: how leaders move up

Most designated CEO successors are talented, hardworking, and smart enough to go all the way--yet fail to land the top job. What they don't realize is, the qualities that helped them in their climb to the number two position aren't enough to boost them to number one. In addition to running their businesses well, the author explains, would-be CEOs must master the art of forming coalitions and winning support. They must also sharpen their self-awareness and their sensitivity to the needs of bosses and influential peers because they typically receive little performance feedback once they're on track to become CEO. Indeed, the ability to pick up on subtle cues is often an important part of the test. When succession doesn't go well--or fails altogether--many people pay the price: employees depending on a smooth handoff at the top, investors expecting continuous leadership, and families uprooted when jobs don't pan out. Among those at fault are boards that do not keep a close watch on the succession process, human resource organizations that should have the capacity to help but are not up to the task, and CEOs who do a poor job coaching potential successors. But the aspiring CEO also bears some responsibility. He can dramatically increase his chances of success by understanding his boss's point of view, knowing his own limitations, and managing what psychologist Gerry Egan has called the "shadow organization"--the political side of a company, characterized by unspoken relationships and alliances--without being labeled "political." Most of all, he must learn to conduct himself with a level of maturity and wisdom that signals he is ready--not almost ready--to be chief executive.     

中国智库建设进入新时期

智库建设是一项重大而紧迫的任务 智库的内涵,简而言之,是为公共决策提供思想和行动方案的机构.主要目的就是要影响和辅助决策,对政策制定和实施发挥作用."两办"意见中,对智库有一个很全面的定义——以战略问题和公共政策为主要研究对象,以服务党和政府科学民主依法决策为宗旨的非营利性研究咨询机构.     

International portfolio diversification is better than you think

Using aggregate data on bilateral cross-border equity holdings, we investigate whether investors correctly hedge their over-exposure to domestic risk (the well-known equity home bias) by investing in foreign stock markets that have low correlation with their home stock market. To deal with the endogeneity of stock return correlations, we instrument current correlations with past correlations. Controlling for many determinants of international portfolios, we find that, all else equal, investors do tilt their foreign holdings towards countries, which offer better diversification opportunities. The diversification motive that we uncover is stronger for source countries exhibiting a higher level of home bias.     

中国智库应占领真知灼见之高地

中国发展研究基金会副秘书长方晋:忽视智库作用会带来政治决策失误 随着信息技术的发展,信息的来源愈发多样化,原来是政府和传统媒体垄断信息来源,随着自媒体的发展,每个人都可以成为信息的发布者.智库在中国的日益火热也让每个人不光可以变成自媒体,也可以变成个人研究、个人智库,人们每天在微信上看到各种各样的文章,再通过微信迅速传播.在这个过程中,专业的意见和权威的声音显得尤为重要.如何区别海量的信息有用还是无用,是真还是假,需要权威的判断和声音,这是智库发展的重要背景和基础.     

看热闹，想门道——信用卡市场新年促销活动观察与思考

2010年,世博会及亚运会等国之盛事让人记忆深刻,但是,让所有人牵肠挂肚的更有“坚强”上升的房价以及CPI。钱包缩水的情况下,信用卡行业有哪些活动出台？这些活动又是如何迎合消费者内心的？更为重要的是,这些活动最终为卡中心的营收,尤其是利润到底作出了多少贡献？     

Integration managers: special leaders for special times

Although the integration of an acquired company with the parent organization is a delicate and complicated process, traditionally no one has ever been responsible for that process--for charting how the two companies will combine their operations, for seeing to it that the integration project meets its deadlines and performance targets, and for educating the new people about the parent company and vice versa. Some enlightened companies have recognized this gap and have appointed a guide--the integration manager--to shepherd everyone through the rocky territory that two organizations must cross before they can function effectively together. The authors have interviewed a number of these leaders in depth, as well as some of the people with whom they've worked. They've determined that integration managers help the merger process in four principal ways: they speed it up, create a structure for it, forge social connections between the two organizations, and help engineer short-term successes. In this article, the authors detail five acquisitions--at TI, General Cable, Meritor Automotive, Lucent, and Johnson & Johnson--and discuss the role that integration managers played in each. They describe exactly what sort of person should do this job. The integration manager must be able to jump into complex situations quickly, relate to many levels of authority smoothly, and bridge gaps in culture and perception. The ever-changing organizations of the Internet age will need leaders with similar skills. In fact, the authors contend, the integration manager should be considered a prototype for the leader of the future.     

Solve the succession crisis by growing inside-outside leaders

In his analysis of 1800 successions, Harvard Business School professor Bower found that companies performed significantly better when they appointed insiders to the job of CEO. Other researchers, including Jim Collins in Good to Great, have come to similar conclusions working from different data sets. Yet Bower finds far too many companies have no succession plans; as a result, when the time comes to name a new chief executive, more firms turn to outsiders. Both insider and outsider CEOs have strengths and weaknesses at the start. Insiders know the company and its people but are often blind to the need for radical change. Outsiders see the need for a new approach but can't make the necessary changes because they don't know the organization or industry sector well enough. What companies must do, then, is find a way to nurture what Bower calls inside-outsiders--internal candidates who have outside perspective. Often such executives have spent much of their time away from the mainstream of the organization, and away from headquarters, living with new opportunities and threats. Before becoming CEO, Procter & Gamble's A.G. Lafley, for instance, worked for years building P&G's Chinese cosmetics operation rather than the core detergent business. IBM's Sam Palmisano was a champion of software and open systems at a time when Big Blue was essentially a closed-system, hardware-oriented company. Nascent inside-outsiders should enter the CEO-training process by the time they are 30 and be given the opportunity to manage a whole business, so that they become good insiders. But they also need to be mentored with an eye toward preserving their outsider perspective, so they learn how to turn their new ideas into great businesses and are protected from old-timers who might be inclined to teach them a lesson.     

摩根士丹利的新老领路人

金融危机爆发,美国政府大举增援,投放巨额资金,摩根士丹利终于渡过难关,躲过一劫。如今摩根士丹利有了新的领路人     

Intellectual leaders in futures studies: A survey

This report presents the findings of a survey conducted recently with the aim of discovering which writers and thinkers are generally regarded as the intellectual leaders in futures studies. It is intended that such information may help in locating sources of significant new ideas about the future.     

中国智库应该研究财政资金引导机制

发展智库:中国应借鉴美国的经验 美国在军事、经济等领域都可以称为世界第一强国,其中智库发挥了不可替代的作用.例如,2008年,美国爆发了影响全球的金融危机,通过实行量化宽松政策,成功地把危机转嫁了出去.     

观察与思考：中国并购之路

2009年,中国经济在一揽子经济刺激政策作用下,成功实现了从衰退到复苏的转变。全年国内生产总值增长8．7％,超过年初8％的增长目标,第四季度国内生产总值增速高达10．7％。宏观经济的强劲复苏增强了企业对未来的信心,在各项并购政策推动下,2009年中国并购市场保持了相对活跃势头。那么,2010年中国的并购形势如何,请看清科研究中心的分析