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Douglas Long Articles

Written by: Douglas Long

10 Things To Improve Decision Making - Click To Read Article
Most of us don’t have the time to work through some complicated decision-making model and, even if we did have the time, the evidence shows that there is still no guarantee that we will make a “good” decision every (or even most of) the time. In fact there is data that shows only about 15% of organisations have the ability to make and implement important decisions effectively. This article suggests 10 things that management can introduce in order to improve decision making.

Focus on the Horizon - Click To Read Article
Experiences such as rally car driving can provide pointers that help us in running businesses - especially when we are experiencing difficulties or facing economic uncertainty.

Going Boldly Where No Person Has Been Before - into 2012! - Click To Read Article
As you move forward into the unknown - into 2012 - what's your attitude? Are you allowing any negatives from 2011 to dominate? Is there an anxiety because of the realisation that desired results depend as much on what others do as on what you do? There are things that you can do within your own mind to change that and there are also plenty of people available to provide coaching, mentoring, and wisdom to help you on your journey.

Seasons and rainbows - Click To Read Article
Business can be both seasonal and cyclical. In big business this isn\'t so much of an issue but for small business this can create huge problems. Small business owners and entrepreneurs need to understand these seasons and cycles then use them for their own benefit.

Customer Service - again - Click To Read Article
Great customer service ought to be the norm - but all too often it is the exception. In this article Doug Long uses two recent Australian experiences to discuss the issue of customer service.

A healthy organisation - Click To Read Article
Providing cash flow is positive, there are key areas that will determine whether or not an organisation is healthy. Answering these questions will highlight possible “ouch” points that need to be addressed.

What makes Third Generation Leadership “different”? - Click To Read Article
The Canadian singer-song writer, Leonard Cohen, has a song “Everybody Knows”. In this Cohen is pointing out everybody knows what is going on – especially when things aren’t working – but no-one is prepared to do anything about it. We continue doing the same things – possibly with some “tweaking” but basically still the same – and wonder why there is no real improvement. The issues of leadership and employee engagement are no different.

Improving the bottom line - Click To Read Article
Within 100 days it is possible to achieve outstanding improvements to revenues and profits. Organisations have increased revenues by as much as $27 million in this time and both large and small organisations have proved that the results are sustainable. The key lies in the way that we lead - moving to a leadership approach that is based on engaging people both within and outside of the organisation.

Achieving potential - Click To Read Article
If we want to achieve results in today's world - whether in the personal, organisational, national, international or any other arena - we need to be "whole people". "Whole people" are those in whose lives all areas - cognitive, moral, interpersonal, spiritual, and affective - are integrated and consistent.

Dealing with adversity - Click To Read Article
Adversity! It sucks. Yet most of us experience it from time to time. Trying to run away from it doesn’t help – ultimately the hole only gets bigger until there is no way out. But by facing it and following some simple steps I’ve found that it can be dealt with. Hopefully the things that have worked for me may be of assistance to you, too.

The Case for Third Generation Leadership - Click To Read Article
If we want to again maximise the probability of achieving desired results on a long-term basis we need to find a new management / leadership approach. Just as The Great Depression lead to the development of Second Generation Leadership, so the Global Financial Crisis needs to lead to the development of Third Generation Leadership.

The Dawn of Something New - Click To Read Article
January 2011 is the start of something new. Change is in the air. Perhaps we need to think a little about what makes us contemplate change as well as our role in facilitating any change that is required.

Is "leadership" dead? - Click To Read Article
"Leadership" now seems to be a catch-all term (a bit like "communication"). That being the case, has the time now come when we should be considering whether the term "leadership" has lost its impact and whether we need to radically rethink the whole concept by moving out of all the traditional concepts like "servant leadership", "situational leadership", “contingency leadership”, “leadership habits” etc that are based on attitudes and behaviours?

... and start all over again! - Click To Read Article
For every entrepreneur who eventually attains wealth and power, there are many more who, in the eyes of the world, are either only moderately “successful” or who are considered “losers” because no matter what they do, they seem to only ever be disappointed. Over the years I have spent much time (and money) in working with this second group of people - helping them regain confidence and enable them to “pick yourself up, brush yourself down, and start all over again”

A Battle for the Mind - Click To Read Article
Almost every person is born with virtually unlimited potential in terms of their ability to develop. Not everyone can be (or wants to be) an elite athlete or a Nobel Prize winner, but almost anyone can mature to be the person that he or she wants to be. The problem is that, in many cases, this maturing is negatively impacted by our self-talk. And much self talk arises out of feedback we experience. Third Generation Leadership operates in a different mind space.

How to transform performance - Click To Read Article
Can the performance of any individual or person be transformed? In almost every case: “yes”. But it requires a different type of leadership from that which we normally encounter.

Obtaining Peak Performance - Click To Read Article
First Generation Leaders and Second Generation Leaders have a strong need to be in control. They see their role as that of making and implementing decisions. These men and women show conditional respect – in other words, obtain the results I need in the way that specify, and I will respect you – and they tend to have a low level of belief in the ability of people to manage themselves and to obtain desired results unless they are closely supervised. The result is that, far too often, managers interfere and actually hinder peak performance because of this need to control.

How to achieve peak performance - Click To Read Article
5 critical steps in obtaining peak performance: 1. Don’t expect respect. 2. Don’t think you’ve got the answer 3. Don’t pretend 4. Get out of the way 5. Say “thank you”

What employees need - Click To Read Article
Research shows that there are 4 key things that followers need if they are to provide peak performance - in other words, to do the things that their leaders need them to do in obtaining desired results - safe, respected, listened to, believed in.

Third Generation Leadership – a different way of listening - Click To Read Article
Authentic and strong attention on another and for them is the underlying social mechanism that triggers engagement – and engagement with both the work to be done and with the people involved is what Third Generation Leadership is all about.

Third Generation Leadership and inappropriate behaviour - Click To Read Article
By focusing on my performance and explaining difficulties I may be having in reaching my performance goals the emphasis moves away from how “the other” should change to how “the other” can help me achieve whatever it is I am supposed to achieve. I can use a Third Generation Leadership approach in my interaction with him or her or “them”. Now it is an easy step for me to set out what support I need or would like from “the other” in order for me to perform.

Third Generation Leadership = Increased Profit - Click To Read Article
Improved profitability can be obtained through a very simple – yet very comprehensive 9 step process that is capable of harnessing the energies of everyone in the organisation.

Third Generation Leadership and Accountability - Click To Read Article
The bottom line in any organisation is performance. And performance demands accountability. The issue as we move from First Generation Leadership or Second Generation Leadership approaches to a Third Generation Leadership approach is not one of being accountable versus being unaccountable. This article looks at how it is possible to maintain personal accountability in a Third Generation Leadership organisation

Third Generation Leadership – Engaging People - Click To Read Article
Third Generation Leadership is based on engagement. And engagement requires that people do things - that they follow the leader - because they want to rather than because they have to. Engagement requires that the leader has developed sufficient levels of trust and respect with the followers that the followers are committed to the same course of action as is the leader.

Third Generation Leadership - facilitating the shift - Click To Read Article
The time is ripe for facilitating a shift to a Third Generation Leadership world view as our dominant paradigm. We need to learn new communication skills.

Third Generation Leadership - why we need it NOW! - Click To Read Article
If ever there was a "wake up call" as to the necessity to shift our leadership understanding and approach then this Gulf of Mexico disaster should be it. The time is ripe for facilitating a shift to a Third Generation Leadership world view as our dominant paradigm.

Third Generation Leadership: Now! - Click To Read Article
What I really like about Gen Y is that they invariably demonstrate an openness and authenticity which enables them to demonstrate congruence, unconditional positive regard, empathy and a willingness to learn from others

Third Generation Leadership and Expectations - Click To Read Article
Gen Y works from the premise that authenticity is important – both in themselves and in their leaders. In the main they are not interested in second guessing the leader – they want to be authentic and they believe they have a right to say what they think or to question that which is dubious, doubtful, or unclear.

Third Generation Leadership In Context - Click To Read Article
To “Generation Y” rigid reporting structures and narrow sources of information are a foreign concept. Their whole life has been lived in a world of personal computers, mobile phones, the internet, social networking, and the like. They have learned that by using the internet and the search engine of their choice they can find out almost anything about anyone at any time – and some of what they find out will even be accurate! Generation Y has an expectation that information will be readily available and that they will be involved in determining the accuracy and utility of such information. Their expectancy is that they will be engaged with what they do and with those they are doing it with. This creates a problem for traditional leadership approaches

Third Generation Leadership and Depression - Click To Read Article
A recent Scientific American article makes it clear that an early aspect of depression leads to creativity. A person feels “down” or suffers some disquiet about his or her situation and, under the right circumstances, can use this to develop new approaches – the experience is used to harness their creative ability. This is a “blue zone” activity and 3G Leaders are adept at helping people shift their brain’s locus of control into the “blue zone”. Such leadership can help many people avoid the debilitating illness of clinical depression.

Third Generation Leadership Develops Self Confident People - Click To Read Article
At the heart of the human condition lies existential anxiety. Essentially existential anxiety is a search for meaning. As such it is unique to humanity.Traditionally people have found the answer to this quest in work and structure coupled with religious faith of one sort or another. Over the years three main ways of dealing with existential anxiety have emerged and these correspond to First Generation Leadership, Second Generation Leadership, and Third Generation Leadership.

Third Generation Leadership: the role of the CEO - Click To Read Article
As we move more and more into a knowledge economy the greatest point of leverage in organisational success is to increase the capability of each employee. And that requires a new culture – a Third Generation Leadership culture. And facilitating that should be the central role of a CEO.

“Third Generation Leadership” – “3G Leadership” or “Leadership v3.0” - Click To Read Article
First Generation Leadership ("G1 Leadership" or "Leadership v1.0") was typified by a command and control approach in which hierarchy ruled and the leader was "right". Second Generation Leadership ("G2 Leadership" or "Leadership v2.0") was typified by a reward for conformance / non reward or punishment for non-conformance. Again, hierarchy ruled and the leader was largely "right". Third Generation Leadership ("G3 Leadership" or "Leadership v3.0") is typified by engaging followers both with what they are doing and with the people with whom they do it. In this article Doug Long introduces both the concepts of leadership generations and shows the distinctions between them.

Third Generation Leadership - Developing 3G Leaders (I) - Click To Read Article
G3 Leadership requires an additional element to earlier generations. It requires the ability to manage down those areas of the brain that are not helpful in leader-follower interactions while simultaneously managing up those areas of the brain that are helpful. I refer to these as "Red Zone" (not helpful) and "Blue Zone" (helpful). Where the leader has his or her brain's locus of control is critical because only G3 Leaders are able to engage everyone with whom they interact: a G2 Leader can engage only some and a G1 Leader can engage only a few. In this article the first step to becoming a G3 Leader is provided.

Third Generation Leadership - Developing 3G Leaders (II) - Click To Read Article
G3 Leadership requires another element - it requires the ability to manage down those areas of the brain that are not helpful in leader-follower interactions while simultaneously managing up those areas of the brain that are helpful. I refer to these as "Red Zone" (not helpful) and "Blue Zone" (helpful). Where the leader has his or her brain's locus of control is critical because only G3 Leaders are able to engage everyone with whom they interact: a G2Leader can engage only some and a G1 Leader can engage only a few. As I indicated in my last article, the question is, of course, "How do we manage down the red zone and manage up the blue zone?"

Am I a Leader? - Click To Read Article
What makes a person a leader? What distinguishes a "good" leader from a "bad" leader? Can anyone become a leader or do you need particular characteristics and behaviours? This article considers these questions and makes some suggestions about who a "leader" really is.

Third Generation Leadership and Teams - Click To Read Article
3G Leaders are not threatened by questions and discussion. They readily share all the information about what has to be done and the parameters within which it needs to be done. Then they seek to harness the expertise of everyone involved so that people are openly listened to and respected. 3G Leaders see themselves in the role of facilitators who are working with their team rather than as controllers to whom the team is responsible. 3G Leaders operate as equals with their fellow team members while being willing to accept ultimate responsibility if things go wrong - which, unsurprisingly, is not often.

Third Generation Leadership resolves problems - Click To Read Article
Respect is an interesting concept. When Group 8 Education were researching issues in education, one of the questions they asked teachers was: “Do you treat your students with respect?” The answer was an unequivocal “Yes”. When students from their classes were asked: “Do your teachers treat you with respect?” the answer was a resounding “No”. How could the perceptions be so different? The answer lies in the difference between “conditional respect” and “unconditional respect”.

Characteristics of Third Generation Leadership & 3G Leaders - Click To Read Article
This is a world in which people are almost addicted to learning new things – especially if they can help them with social networking. This is a world in which people are very aware of the vast amount of information available and in which they have to make daily decisions as to what information to accept and what to reject. This is a world in which, fundamentalists of any form aside, people are increasingly willing to grapple with complexity and seek new answers to age-old issues. This is a world in which we need 3G Leaders.

Festina Lente - "urgent" or "important"? - Click To Read Article
In my mentoring I am surprised at how frequently I need to remind executives, managers and entrepreneurs of the need to concentrate on what is important. Concentrating on what is “urgent” invariably leads to crisis management with the result that the organisation degenerates into continual crisis. Because the “important” gets pushed back things get out of control. To change the metaphor, the bush fires rage uncontrolled because proper fire prevention was not done in a timely fashion.

Giving Feedback: do the old rules apply? - Click To Read Article
In today's world it is increasingly clear that respect has to be earned: it is not automatically given. In today's world it is increasingly clear that authority can quickly be lost if the person giving feedback makes a mistake - and the almost instant availability of information by phone or internet makes it almost certain that any such errors will be quickly discovered (and if the person giving feedback isn't respected or hasn't engaged with the people involved then the probability of someone actively seeking out errors is high.)

Return on Investment - Click To Read Article
How do we measure return on investment for people at any level in any organisation? I think that it comes down to the question of “What value does this person add?” With established operations, when I am looking at the organisation structure, I have one request that invariably causes problems. It’s a simple: “Please tell me exactly what the people answering to you do; and then tell me what you do that justifies your position.”

Leadership and Fear - Click To Read Article
As entrepreneurs, managers, and leaders, how do you learn? Learning by experience is not necessarily bad – sometimes, however, it can be extremely costly. Is it something that you can always afford? People with their brain’s locus of control in the “Blue Zone” are prepared to learn from coaches and mentors as well as from experience.

Myopic Leaders? - Click To Read Article
Scanning the overall environment in which you are working to ascertain threats and opportunities. A mindset that is constantly trying to position the organisation in a place where it can deal with any threats and take advantage of any opportunities. A broad vision rather than leadership myopia. The constant need for a leader to be creating and sustaining an environment in which everyone can be successful.

It starts in the Brain - Click To Read Article
Books such as the iconic “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (1936, Dale Carnegie) or “Think and Grow Rich” (1937, Napoleon Hill) are based on the premise that we need to get our minds right before anything else can happen the way we want it to. Look at the book shelves in any bookstore or library and today you will find a plethora of material providing the same basic message.There is no shortage of material explaining the “what”: there is, however, a shortage of material explaining “how” to enable one to shift the area of control in the brain so that everything else can follow.

It's in the Brain - leadership and social issues - Click To Read Article
It is now fairly well accepted that the brain has three quite clear areas from which to control our behaviour – the area closest to the brain stem (sometimes called ‘the reptilian brain”), the limbic area (sometimes called “the mammalian brain”), and the cortical area (sometimes called “the human brain”. There is hard data that shows where teachers engage with students, the students become more responsive to learning and they don’t want to “let the teacher down”. In turn this has an impact by reducing antisocial behaviour in the community around the school. There is also hard data that shows where employees are engaged with their work and with their co-workers, there is significant reduction in lateness, absenteeism, sickness, and abuse of trust.

Brains, complexity, leaders - Click To Read Article
Our brain's area of control, our world view, and our ability to deal appropriately with the complexity we face are key factors in entrepreneurial and leadership success. The need to understand about the brain’s areas of control and to develop “blue zone control” becomes increasingly important as the business grows. Successful leaders are comfortable with the levels of complexity they confront and are constantly seeking new tools for dealing with the increased levels of complexity they know are around the corner

Papering over the cracks - Click To Read Article
If "cracked eggs don't hatch", simply papering over the cracks isn't going to change things. All too often organisations go for the quick fix - dealing with the immediate rather than the underlying causes of problems. In this article Doug Long argues for a leadership approach to getting desired results.

Neuroscience and leadership - Click To Read Article
Many of us are increasingly frustrated by the fact that today's problems were often caused by solutions that were provided yesterday – solutions which, with the benefit of hindsight, were patently inappropriate or inadequate. Mostly these are caused by people operating out of less than optimal worldviews coupled with a primarily ‘red zone’ area of brain control. In this article Douglas Long explores the issue of worldviews as developed by Clare Graves and couples this with some basic neuroleadership concepts

Leadership: it’s a “no-brainer” - Click To Read Article
"Red Zone" orientation fails today's leadership test. Today’s younger people no longer fit the “obey or conform” mould. We see this in the general response to authority whether it is in school, work, or society at large. “Gen Y” are not interested in “toeing the line” and they are prepared to openly rebel when this is demanded of them. While it is true that young people have always included a rebellious element that offended their elders and the powers that be, today the phenomenon is more widespread than ever before. Young people today demand to be engaged in what they are doing and with the people with whom they are doing it. The answer is true leadership.

Leaders and Signs - Click To Read Article
Success and/or failure in organisations doesn't "just happen". Invariably there are indicators of which leaders should be aware. In this article Doug Long suggests a process for incorporating early warning signs into the planning process of any organisation.

Cracked eggs don’t hatch! - Click To Read Article
Great organisations are predicated on highly satisfied, totally committed customers who want appropriate quality and a fair price for the goods or services they buy. These customers, as long as they can see that they are receiving value for money, are perfectly happy for their supplier to make good profits – they want to know that the supplier will be there in the future. It’s the marginal customers for whom price is a key determining factor. What happens when there are systems issues that work against good customer service?

“Blue Zone” Leaders grow others - Click To Read Article
The brain of a leader is one that accepts today's reality but knows that the future can be better. Key to bringing about this better future is the facilitation of growth in other people. Working from his experience of helping those who have been abused and disadvantaged, Doug Long provides some simple behaviours that leaders can use in order to bring about the future we desire for individuals as well as for society at large.

Leadership and Service - Click To Read Article
Customer or client service directly reflects the culture that exists in an organisation. This culture is largely determined and maintained by the leadership the organisation provides. Over some 7 years Douglas Long has proved that the right sort of customer satisfaction assessment - that driven by the customer not the supplier - can be used to improve profitability. In this article Doug Long uses an actual experience with a major computer supplier in order to illustrate the need for good customer service and good leadership. He provides some pointers on how this is done.

What of the Future - Click To Read Article
As we recover from the Global Financial Crisis, have we really learned anything? What is to stop the excesses of the 80's and the more recent factors leading up to the GFC from happening again? In this article Doug Long takes a brief look at history to show that perhaps we haven't learned very much at all - and the question is posed as to what we are going to do about it.

Set Up For Success - Click To Read Article
In many organisations, success seems to be a random variable. Good leaders consciously try to create an environment in which both the organisation and its people can maximise their probability of being successful. This articcle provides some pointers in how to do this.

The Brain of a Leader - Click To Read Article
The area of our brain that we allow to control our thoughts and actions is a key factor in determining whether or not we are enabling ourselves and our organisations to deal effectively with new technological advances and rapidly changing circumstances. In this article Doug Long explains the default areas of control used by most of us and gives pointers to using a more effective area of control.

The Successful Leader - Click To Read Article
Success needs to be measured not only by financial factors but also by the strength of the people who, when a leader moves on, are able to step into his/her shoes. The good leader achieves both.

Problems of Growth - Click To Read Article
When an organisation needs more money, the issue is a little more complex than sometimes is realised. In this article, Douglas Long suggests some leadership questions to accompany the management task of keeping the business viable.





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