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

10 Quotes From The 5 Levels Of Leadership -- John C. Maxwell

Soon I'll post my full review of John C. Maxwell's latest book, The 5 Levels of Leadership . In the meantime, here are some of my favorites quotes from the book that I believe should become a must-read book by any workplace/organizational leader: Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself. It's about advancing your team. Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others. Leadership is action, not position. When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other. If you have integrity with people, you develop trust. The more trust you develop, the stronger the relationship becomes. In times of difficulty, relationships are a shelter. In times of opportunity, they are a launching pad. Good leaders must embrace both care and candor. People buy into the leader, then the vision. Bringing out the best in a person is often a catal...

The Benefits Of When Everyone Leads

It’s only January and the new book, When Everyone Leads , could likely be my pick for the best new leadership book of 2023. It’s that good. There’s still nearly a whole year ahead of us so we’ll see what other books debut. In the meantime, add this book to your must-read list. You’ll learn that: Leadership is an activity, not a position. Leadership is mobilizing others to make progress on the most important challenges. Leadership is interactive, risky and experimental. Leadership comes in moments. Leadership is always about change. When Everyone Leads , by Ed O’Malley and Julia Fabris McBride , presents a revolutionary approach to leadership; not based on position or authority, but an activity that anybody can undertake by learning to spot opportunities for improvement and taking the initiative to engage others. “It can be unfamiliar and uncomfortable, but in a culture where everyone leads, organizations start to make progress on their most difficult proble...

Five Essential Principles For Sustaining Growth Through Innovation

Even though many companies strive for innovation, most struggle to achieve meaningful change. The largest reason for this disconnect? Playing it safe. Leaders and organizations want to implement new ideas, but too often they are held back by the fear of failure, even though setbacks are intrinsic to the innovation process. In the new book, No Fear, No Failure , by Lorraine H. Marchand (with John Hanc), readers will learn how to overcome the status quo that stifles creative thinking and how to create a culture that encourages innovation. Marchand provides a framework for sustained growth built on the “ 5 Cs ”: Customer First Culture Collaboration Change Chance She draws on more than 120 interviews with leaders across industries, real-world case studies, and her firsthand experience and shares step-by-step, field-tested strategies, tactics, and tools that practitioners can use to embed creativity within organizational cultures. Marchand is a former Big Tech and Big Pharma ex...

Teach An Employee Something New Today

Take the opportunity today to teach an employee something new. Nearly everyone likes to learn and is capable of tackling a new challenge. Teach your employee something that expands their current job description. Teach something that will help them to get promoted within your organization at a later date. Teach them a skill that uses new technology. Or teach them something that will allow them to be a more skilled leader and manager in the future. You can even teach something that you no longer need to be doing in your position, but that will be a rewarding challenge/task for your employee. The benefit to your employee is obvious. The benefit to you is you'll have a more skilled team member who is capable of handling more work that can help you to grow your business and/or make it run more efficiently. Be a leader who teaches.

Best Reasons For Doing Employee Exit Interviews

Don't be the guy in the picture when an employee leaves your company. Instead, conduct exit interviews and surveys. Leigh Branham explains in his book, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave , what the most favorable conditions are for conducting the interviews and surveys. And, if you need convincing to read the book, take a look at these 11 best reasons for listening and gathering the data when an employee leaves : Bringing any "push-factor" root-cause reasons for leaving to the surface. Alerting the organization to specific issues to be addressed. Giving the employee a chance to vent and gain a sense of closure. Giving the employee the opportunity to provide information that may help colleagues left behind. Providing information about competitors and their practices. Comparing information given with the results of past surveys and employee data. Detecting patterns and changes by year or by quarter. Obtaining information to help improve recruiting. Possibly heading off ...

Important Questions To Ask Your New Hires

In Paul Falcone ’s book, 75 Ways For Managers To Hire, Develop And Keep Great Employees , he recommends asking new employees the following questions 30, 60 and 90 days after they were hired: 30-Day One-on-One Follow-Up Questions Why do you think we selected you as an employee? What do you like about the job and the organization so far? What’s been going well? What are the highlights of your experiences so far? Why? Tell me what you don’t understand about your job and about our organization now that you’ve had a month to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Have you faced any unforeseen surprises since joining us that you weren’t expecting? 60-Day One-on-One Follow-Up Questions Do you have enough, too much or too little time to do your work? Do you have access to the appropriate tools and resources? Do you feel you have been sufficiently trained in all aspects of your job to perform at a high level? How do you see your job relating to the organi...

How to Be a Leader – 9 Principles from Dale Carnegie

Today, I welcome thought-leader Nathan Magnuson as guest blogger... Nathan writes : This is it, your first day in a formal leadership role. You’ve worked hard as an individual contributor at one or possibly several organizations. Now management has finally seen fit to promote you into a position as one of their own: a supervisor. You don’t care if your new team is only one person or ten, you’re just excited that now – finally – you will be in charge! Unfortunately the euphoria is short-lived. Almost immediately, you are not only overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a team, but you quickly find that your team members are not as experienced or adroit as you. Some aren’t even as committed. You find yourself having to repeat yourself, send their work back for corrections, and staying late to fill the gap. If something doesn’t change soon, you might just run yourself into the ground. How did something that looked so easy ...

How To Be A More Human Leader

“To be most effective in today’s environment, leaders must be human leaders. Human leaders must be able to lead not only with their heads but also with their hearts and souls,” says veteran executive coach Hortense le Gentil , author of the book, The Unlocked Leader: Dare to Free Your Own Voice, Lead with Empathy, and Shine Your Light in the World . She adds, “In addition to being respected, seen, and valued, employees also seek leaders who feel human, not distant and perfect beings with whom they can’t connect.” Additionally, leaders need to put the collective interest before their own and work hard to make other people’s good ideas happen. “And although the book focuses on leadership at work, each of us is a complete individual, not a sum of separate, isolated parts. As such, the process presented in the book applies to all areas of your life,” shares the author. She further explains that becoming a human leader is a journey, not a desti...

Five Crucial Actions That Build Unity And Foster Performance In The Workplace

“Given the research-validated outcomes and demonstrated financial impact belonging offers, organizations should make cultivating belonging a personal leadership imperative across the world,” says Brad Deutser , author of the book, Belonging Rules: Five Crucial Actions That Build Unity and Foster Performance . Furthermore, belonging predicts job satisfaction, engagement, and effort over and above employee’s perceptions of organizational culture or strategy, explains Deutser. So, what exactly is belonging? It’s: Belonging is where we hold space for something of shared importance. It is where we come together on values, purpose, and identity; a space of acceptance where agreement is not required but a shared framework is understood; where there is an invitation into the space; and intentional choice to take part in; something vital to a sense of connection, security and acceptance. As you read the book, you’ll discover vital information about the...

Debbie Laskey's Expert Insights On Marketing and Leadership

Debbie Laskey is one of my go-to experts when I seek advice about a number of business topics, including marketing, social media, and nonprofit marketing and leadership. So, it's my privilege to share today some of Debbie's insights on all these topics. However, before you read the answers to my questions to Debbie, we'll set the stage with her background: Debbie has an MBA Degree and 17 years of marketing experience in the high-tech industry, Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in France, insurance industry, and nonprofit sector. She’s created and implemented successful marketing and branding initiatives for nonprofits including the Foundation for the Junior Blind, Exceptional Children’s Foundation, League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, and Brides for Good; and in the B2B financial sector for an insurance company and CPA firm. Currently, she works with the Nonprofit Communications and Media Network and Special Olympics Southern California. ...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog