Newsletter #48 : Taking Responsibility

Andrew Weaver
November 29, 2019
Hello Everyone

Some of you might have watched or read a powerful speech this week by Sacha Baron Cohen, which attacked the major tech platforms for what he describes as their lack of responsibility in controlling hate speech, extreme political ads etc.

You can read the speech here.

Management and leadership requires taking on a significant amount of responsibility, so we thought it an interesting topic as theme for this week. 

Have a great weekend and continuing being kind.

Andrew Weaver
CTO Academy
[email protected]

The Personal

How To Take Responsibility For Your Life.

I didn’t always take responsibility for my life. I came from a fixed mindset perspective and when things went wrong, it was normally the fault of someone else.

Which meant I never truly learned from the setbacks and mistakes, not if it was someone else’s fault.In addition, some early success made me feel invincible and relatively closed to new ideas.

How I’ve changed.

A sea change truly took over me when I launched myself into the world of start ups and found there was no safety net anymore. No-one else to make responsible for the good or bad but me.
Toughened me up. 
Do you take responsibility?
Could you be better? … How To Take Responsibility For Your Life


 

The Team

How Do You Get People To Take Responsibility?

Enabling people to feel confident enough to take responsibility is an integral part of being a great leader and inspiring the team around you to enjoy their work and over deliver.

There are lots of reasons why team members don’t step up and take responsibility
– Don’t feel supported
– Lack of skills and/or confidence
– Not inspired by environment
– Don’t believe in you or the company

So how do you get people to take responsibility?;
1. Help people get a vision of excellence
2. Give employees the freedom to define the “right” approach
3. Instill pride in the job and in the organisation
4. Encourage a sense of ownership
5. Expect employees to make their own decisions
6. Create environment where mistakes can be made 
7. Lead by exampleFurther thoughts in 7 ways to get people to take responsibility


The Corporates

Can They Really Do Good?
This article picks out 15 well known corporates “doing good things” …. but is this a case of doing good spin?

Are the good things truly offsetting the negative impact elsewhere?
Does this type of monolithic corporate truly take serious their social responsibility indeed can they, when the driving imperative is to achieve that notoriously selfish end game of increasing “shareholder value”?  


Book of the week

“Small Giants : Companies Choosing To Be Great Instead Of Big”

“It’s an axiom of business that great companies grow their revenues and profits year after year. Yet quietly, under the radar, a small number of companies have rejected the pressure of endless growth to focus on more satisfying business goals. Goals like being great at what they do, creating a great place to work, providing great customer service, making great contributions to their communities, and finding great ways to lead their lives.

Small Giants takes us deep inside fourteen remarkable companies that have chosen to march to their own drummer.

They include Anchor Brewing, the original microbrewer;
CitiStorage Inc., the premier independent records-storage business;
Clif Bar & Co., maker of organic energy bars and other nutrition foods;
Righteous Babe Records, the record company founded by singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco;
Union Square Hospitality Group, the company of restaurateur Danny Meyer; and
Zingerman’s Community of Businesses, including the world-famous Zingerman’s Deli of Ann Arbor.

Book shows how leaders of these small giants recognised the full range of choices they had about the type of company they could create. And he shows how we can all benefit by questioning the usual definitions of business success.

In his new afterward, Burlingham reflects on the similarities and learning lessons from the small giants he covers in the book”



Next CTO Academy Webinar 
Where Tech Mentors Make A Difference
Part 2 : Career Progression

Part 1 saw us look at ‘Where tech mentors make a difference‘ and a focus on how they can help you negotiate management challenges.

Next week we deliver part 2 and a look at their impact on helping with career progression and road map.

Tuesday 3rd December, 11am (GMT)
 
 
Quote of the week

 “In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

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