Leaders Must Put Character At The Center Of Everything They Do

“How you show up, what you stand for, and what actions you take to that end—as an individual and as a leader in your organization—are now gating factors to lasting success,” explains Frank Calderoni in his new book, UPSTANDING: How Company Character Catalyzes Loyalty, Agility, and Hypergrowth. He adds that 2020 was the moment of truth for character, and building an upstanding company character is what will drive long-lasting success.

Calderoni explains that leaders must put character at the center of everything they do, and he explains that company culture is distinct from company character. He explains that:

Company culture is the system of beliefs, values, goals, behaviors, and the way employees feel working in the organization—from leadership style, decision-making norms, customer experience, and company policies—officially and unofficially. Essentially, it’s the personality of the organization.

Company character is the integrity, respect, and fortitude residing at the core of your culture. It is the basis of trust and emotional connection people have with your organization—measured by the distance between what you say and what you do. It is earned as much as it is defined.

Calderoni’s book teaches you how company character catalyzes loyalty, agility and hypergrowth. He provides you proven techniques, workshop processes, real-world case studies and examples and insightful observations from business leaders and his own career – which includes 20 years as an executive at IBM and CFO positions at Cisco and Red Hat. Currently, he is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Anaplan, a cloud-native SaaS Company that helps enterprises orchestrate business performance.

More specifically, the book will teach you how to:

Hire and evaluate talent for character
Involve employees in identifying the company’s values so they co-create them
Put character at the center of every decision
Follow through on convictions
Answer the call in challenging times
Eliminate or reduce unconscious bias
Measure employees’ sense of belonging
Invest in career opportunities for underrepresented people
Decide how to face the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issues that will test your company’s character

In short, Upstanding shows you how to be a modern leader in today’s new normal. It’s an incredibly timely read and one to add to your must-read books list for leaders.

Today, Calderoni shares these additional insights about his new book.

Frank A. Calderoni

Question: What inspired you to write your book?

Calderoni: I’ve always wanted to share a business strategy that I’m passionate about, creating corporate character. As I mentioned, when the pandemic hit, followed by a global recession and social unrest, it resulted in an unprecedented amount of change, disruption, and reflection for companies.

This highlighted a cultural shift that’s taking place in society – it was time for leadership to pay attention and an opportunity to make a difference.

I wrote the book to share my insights and from those who I admire and respect. There is a significant shift happening in leadership, and it’s up to all of us to be that leader for our organization.

Question: Why do we hear so much about company culture and so little about company character?

Calderoni: Historically, companies and the media focused on culture. There are several books, Built to Last, comes to mind, and lists such as Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For, that praised company culture.

When it came to Environmental, Social, and Governance topics - companies tended to stay silent. In part to not offend stakeholders in their ecosystem. Back when I started working, driving social change was not part of the corporate agenda.

However, the events during the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, and other social issues have forced companies off the sidelines, in part because governments are not doing enough to address these issues. In addition, our stakeholders: employees, customers, even investors, are paying attention to what we're saying and doing. So, not taking a position is being seen as not caring about the issue.

Going forward, I believe you're going to see company character become more and more critical, and companies will not only pay lip service to these issues but create policies that drive change. The ones that do this best will have the most loyal customers, attract the best people, and I believe will have the most success.

Question: What are a few best next steps for a business leader interested in creating a character-led culture?

Calderoni: If you aren’t sure how to begin, start by understanding your purpose. If you don’t know it or don’t have one, work with others to create one. Use your desired customer experience as your North Star.

Spend time figuring out your values and how they support your purpose. To build commitment, involve your employees early in this process. If you already have values, help connect the dots to your (and your team’s) work.

Finally, and most importantly, behaviors and decisions reflect character. Strive to be a role model for the culture you want to create.

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

How To Survive, Reset And Then Thrive

“Uncertainty is here to stay. Rather than seeing it as an obstacle to overcome, integrate it into your strategic approach to invigorate your high-growth potential and outperform competition under any market condition,” explains Rebecca Homkes , author of the book, Survive, Reset, Thrive . “Most books aren’t honest enough about how hard it is to reset ,” adds Homkes. Yet, resetting and leaning into change is essential. “If you are ready to embrace change as a central element of your growth strategy, this book is for you.” Homkes’ book is a timely, comprehensive, and essential read for business leaders looking to take the next step toward ensuring high growth for their companies. The book brings together more than 15 years of Homkes working directly with high-growth companies of all sizes and across a wide variety of industries. Survive, Reset, Thrive (SRT) is a practical and innovative interconnected three-mode approach : Survive : Stabil...

Why Your Middle Managers Are So Important

The book, Power To The Middle , shows how managers are the crucial link between a company’s ground floor and top brass. “Too often company leaders view middle managers in a negative light as expendable employees who can slow down productivity and overall strategy,” explain the book’s authors and McKinsey partners Bill Schaninger , Bryan Hancock , and Emily Field . “However, new KcKinsey research reveals that this outdated perspective needs to change and that well-developed managers are the strategy that companies must prioritize to succeed today,” they add. Most importantly, by the end of their book, the authors sum up their insights and provide a playbook that will help senior leaders let go of the command-and-control mindset that has hobbled their managers for so long. The authors define middle managers as the people who are at least once removed from the front line and at least a layer below the senior lead...

How To Energize Your Work And Life

Tom Rath is the author of the incredibly popular Strengthsfinder 2.0 book . His latest book is, Are You Fully Charged? The book draws on the latest and most practical research from business and psychology and identifies the three keys that influence most of our daily well-being, as well as our engagement at work : Meaning : doing something that benefits another person Interactions : creating far more positive than negative moments Energy : making choices that improve your mental and physical health "This book will challenge you to stop pursing happiness and start creating meaning instead ," explains Rath. And, by doing so, you will rethink your daily interactions with the people who matter most. "The actions you take throughout every single day accumulate to shape your years, decades and overall life," adds Rath. Even brief interactions count, says Rath, such as exchanging a smile or greeting while passing someone on the s...

Read Good To Great

Near the top of virtually every list you'll see of the best leadership books, you'll find, Good To Great , by Jim Collins . The book, five years in the making, and published in 2001, addresses the all-important question of: Can a good company become a great company, and if so, how? Some of the lessons from the book are: "Leadership is equally about creating a climate where the truth is heard and the brutal facts confronted." "Leading from good to great does not mean coming up with the answers and then motivating everyone to follow your messianic vision. It means having the humility to grasp the fact that you do not yet understand enough to have the answers and then to ask the questions that will lead to the best possible insights." "Good-to-great companies use technology as an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it." "Engage in dialogue and debate." Good-to-great companies are those who have the ability to get and kee...

My Favorite "Moral Of The Story" Tips From Harvey Mackay

I'm a big fan of best-selling author Harvey Mackay . He writes about business, sales and leadership and typically ends his articles with a moral of the story. Culled from his writings of the past few years, here are some of my favorites of his moral of the story endings: Change your thinking, change your life. It's not enough to know how to do things - you must know why you do them. If you live in the past, you won't have much of a future. If you want to outsmart the competition, you have to outthink the competition. Don't be afraid to make a decision. Be afraid not make a decision. What you learn on your first job will last through your last job. Minds are like parachutes - not much good unless they are open. If you can't be an expert, hire one. People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be. It only takes a little spark to ignite a great fire. Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing to do. Mackay's best-...

2015's Top Leadership Blog Posts

These are my blog posts that were the most popular during 2015. In case you missed them last year, here they are: Business And Leadership Quotes That Inspire Me High-Performing Teams Are Made Of This Fail Fast Or Win Big How To Be A Better Listener: 10 Tips The Seven Roles Of A Collaborative Leader

Explain Each Person's Relevance

Your employees appreciate clearly knowing how what they do each day specifically contributes to your company's or organization's success. So, it's important that you explain the relevance of each person's job. Help each employee or team member to understand how what they do makes a difference. Answer their questions about the significance of their work. Demonstrate how if their job isn't done well, or isn't fully completed, how that negatively impacts the rest of the process or your business' overall product or service. Sometimes in organizations too much time is spent explaining the relevance of sales positions or management positions. But, everyone on the team needs to understand their relevance and the importance of what they do.

Dig Deep For Ideas

The next time you are looking for ideas for how to grow revenue, streamline processes and procedures and/or reduce expenses, dig deep within your organization . Don't ask only your direct reports for their suggestions. Instead, ask everyone at all levels . Some of the best ideas will come from your lower and mid-level employees who are interacting with your vendors, customers and co-workers every day in the very areas that, if improved, could make the most dramatic impact. Be sure to acknowledge receipt of each idea . Keep everyone informed of the types of ideas you've received . Perhaps update them on a monthly basis. When you implement a suggestion, recognize and reward the submitter , including possibly financially. Feel free to accept ideas anonymously. But, if employees know you are sincere about wanting their input, and witness you acting upon suggestions, most of your team members will be proud to tie their names to their ideas. Finally...

Mission Versus Vision

Here's a good definition of the difference between a mission and a vision by leadership book authors George Bradt, Jayme A. Check and Jorge Pedraza: Mission - A mission guides what people do every day. It informs what roles need to exist in the organization. Vision - A vision is the picture of future success. It helps define areas where the organization needs to be best in class and helps keep everyone aware of the essence of the company.

4 Questions To Ask An Employee When He Quits

As a leader, it's critical that you understand the real reasons employees leave your company. To do that, you need to ask specific questions that may not be ones you currently include in your exit interviews. Fortunately, Richard Finnegan , shares in his book, Rethinking Retention in Good Times and Bad , four key questions you should include in your exit interviews : Why did you decide to leave us? Of all the things you've told me, what is the top thing that caused you to resign? It's great that you've found such a good opportunity, but why did you look? What one thing could we have done that would have caused you to stay? Your goal is to learn the most important leave reason rather than learn which three or five things contributed to your employee's decision to leave. The four questions above will help you learn the most important reason.

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog