Artist Damián Ortega... I Really Like this Guy

I don't often feature something artistic or 'touchy feely' on my business blog, but Damián Ortega blurs the line between business and aesthetics so I'm going for it.

Ortega’s work explores specific economic, aesthetic and cultural situations and in particular how regional culture affects commodity consumption. As a former political cartoonist, his work has an intellectualism to it that I like, but it's also beautiful and playful.

I love the way he explores how pieces come together to make a whole. I look at a company very much the same way - lots of individual ideas, people, systems, products, etc coming together to create something larger than the sum of the parts. Take a look at a few of his pieces and you'll see what I mean:

Cosmic Thing (2002) Ortega disassembled a Volkswagen Beetle car and re-composed it piece by piece, suspended from wire in mid-air, in the manner of a mechanic’s instruction manual. The result was both a diagram and a fragmented object that offered a new way of seeing.

Controller of the Universe (2007) Ortega assembled found tools and wire in a visually stunning way - who new old rakes and picks could be so sexy!

Here's a selection of other works by Ortega that caught my eye:

As Sebastian Smee said, "For Damián Ortega, ideas and things, far from being connected by logic, have a deeper, unaccountable relationship, amounting to a kind of magic act. It’s a relationship that’s destructive one minute and creative the next, but it’s never less than funny."

Five Lessons from 2010 Worth Repeating — Without Repeating 2010

January 3, 2011
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter (Harvard Business Review Blogs)

Before 2010 is dumped into the dustbin of history — and it was a year when cleaning up after disasters was not just a metaphor — it's worth finding the gems among the trash.

Apple, Facebook, Twitter, IBM, PepsiCo, P&G, Stonyfield Farm, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and former British politicians provided me with occasions for pointing to business strategy and leadership lessons, good and bad, that shouldn't be forgotten. Here are my top five lessons from last year's blogs that can be carried confidently into the new year.

1. Surprises are the new normal. Resilience is the new skill. Back-up plans are strategic assets. Volcanic ash, generally not on any company's worst case scenario list, disrupted air traffic for several weeks. ("Surprise!) As BP proved, minimizing crisis doesn't cut it, and failure to communicate honestly is the biggest mistake. Kanter's Law still holds — that everything can look like a failure in the middle. The number of things that can hold things up has burgeoned, especially when politics are involved; Chinese regulators are the latest deal-delayers, this time for the NSN-Motorola deal. It helps to have leaders who are Energizers, a favorite idea from 2009, because their positive spirit can keep things moving.

2. Innovation takes courage and the willingness to be out in front rather than following the herd. Speaking of herds, while sacred cows can hold companies back if there is no courage to challenge orthodoxy, cows proved to be a better set of celebrity endorsers than Tiger Woods for Stonyfield Farms and their yogurt marketing. The creativity to produce innovation can involve a great deal of improvisation rather than sticking to a fixed script. It also takes dedication. Perhaps some entrepreneurs have a passionate desire to prove something.

3. Straight-line careers are over-rated. Zig-zags might better serve companies and leaders. When change is ubiquitous, stepping outside of familiar territories — whether fields, geographies, or industries — can provide important new insights and perspectives, particularly for emerging opportunities. Veer, soar, and return to the home base triumphant, as Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed. But that doesn't mean that leaders can parachute in from one setting to another and expect to be effective. Jobs took a pause and learned a few new consumer entertainment tricks. It is a good idea to take learning pauses to prepare for next steps.

4. Openness and inclusion should be the new standards. As the movie Inside Job argues about the banking crisis, closed circles of elites can reinforce dysfunctional behavior when there are interlocking financial interests and self-dealing relationships. Including people from formerly excluded groups might add perspectives that surface problems earlier or discourage throwing caution to the wind. Power goes to the connectors, a 2009 lesson. Connectors bring new ideas and information across groups, a very important role when the best new opportunities lie in emerging markets unfamiliar to those. Thus, the leadership ranks must be globally diverse. But though women are proving themselves as CEOs, challenges of inclusion remain.

5. Forget privacy, especially if you're a leader. Leaders are always on. Microphones and video cameras are always on, too, as former British prime minister Gordon Brown found to his peril. Xerox CEO Ursula Burns received better coaching her predecessor, Anne Mulcahy, and provides a positive model. But other CEOs weren't so fortunate. As former HP CEO Mark Hurd learned, small lapses can trip up leaders, even smart ones producing financial results, if they do not have a base of support. In the digital age, the spotlight is always, and the erosion of privacy affects everyone, a 2009 lesson that looms larger every day.

2010 will soon seem like ancient history, but these lessons will endure. Especially because 2011 is certain to bring surprises that will require still more innovation and even more open leadership.

Women in Leadership: Did We See Progress in 2010?

I wish I could tell you YES - women made huge strides in the workplace in 2010! But, in reality, while things have improved incrementally, we still have a long way to go. Here are some fairly up-to-date statistics on comparative performance and compensation:

• Women hold over 50% of total job positions, but only 18% of top-level leadership positions.
• Women earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by a male counterpart.
• Women comprise only 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs.
• 57% of college students are women, but only 26% of college professors are female.
• Women hold less than 6% of the top-paying positions in Fortune 500 companies.

Sobering, huh?

I've been thinking a lot lately about my experiences in working with women - as clients, as employees in companies, as partners - and I've asked myself, "What are the barriers I see to progress?"  Here is a quick digest of observations about the factors hold women back in the workplace and how we might be able to step up our collective performance as a gender in 2011:

Women don't bounce back from a hard punch like men do.
I know, we put on a tough face sometimes or play the ice queen, but the reality is that men know how to take a hit, shrug it off, and continue on their merry way.  Women stew over conflicts, lose self-confidence, wallow in guilt, and generally need approval from others to believe in themselves.  A key barrier to women's success in high-earning, high-profile leadership positions is the fact that they allow a regret, a missed opportunity, a mistake, or a criticism derail their ability to achieve.  They can't recover from a punch, and so allow a single hit to stop them from ardently pursuing their dreams.  While it's important to reflect on our character, nurture relationships with others, and learn from mistakes, dwelling endlessly on our shortcomings is not the path to equality.

Women tear each other down in the workplace.
This is a bizarre tendency, but I've really noticed that women attack each other at work more than they attack their male peers.  I don't know if going after a guy is too intimidating, or if we just tend to be 'bitchy' with each other, but girlfriends... stop going after each other and find some solidarity!  If you have a gripe with someone at work, try to productively solve the problem rather than tearing down other people to get ahead.  You never elevate yourself by diminishing others.  And taking an attack stance against other women starts a cycle of discontent, gossip and backstabbing that makes everyone in your work environment look bad and prevents anyone from getting ahead.

Women believe that to succeed in leadership they can't be compassionate and balanced.
Men can be very direct in their critiques and candid in their verbal feedback, but they tend to naturally avoid being blatantly destructive and overly judgmental.  They can sense when searing comments are reaching a level that will be counter-productive and they pull back.  Women are especially judgmental - and on a much more personal and detailed level - than are males.  We really need to guard against judgmentalism taking away our ability to be loving and compassionate and supportive of others.  Succeeding in business isn't about turning into men (or, heaven forbid, being even meaner than men!).  It's about leveraging all the uniquely female gifts that we have at our disposal to lead in our way. 

Women don't mentor each other and pass the torch.
Most men who have achieved great things in the corporate arena will tell you that they have a few profound mentor relationships that have gotten them where they are.  Men have learned the value in dropping a ladder down to individuals below them with potential - and they have also learned to look for the men in positions they covet and ask for help.  Women tend to work really hard in isolation and hope that their performance alone will earn them a promotion or raise.  It doesn't usually work that way.  People above you in power positions offer immense leverage that can take you up a few levels overnight.  And don't just look for your own mentors!  Be willing to help the women around you and below you step up their performance and get noticed.

Women often view the workplace as a popularity contest.
Come on ladies... we're not in junior high anymore.  Leadership isn't about everyone liking you all the time.  While it's important to be smart and fair and respected, you have to learn to deal with people who disagree with you, resent you, or ostracize you.  The few who reach the top have to make unpopular decisions at times, and you will definitely have moments when you feel very alone.  Women tend to shut down when they find themselves in an exclusionary group, but that is just the time to take up the courage of your convictions and earn respect.  Superior performance only emerges when you meet the challenges put to you in spite of your gender.  The world certainly won't adapt itself to suit you, so if you can't make tough calls and defend your ideas you'll find that primer opportunities flow right on by.

Have you noticed a broad tendency in the workplace that is holding women back?  Comment below or email me at trish@trishthomas.com and I'll include it in a future post.