Katherine Choynowski's Cool and Bold Startup

Katherine Choynowski is neither your average 21-year old nor your average entrepreneur.  She's a privileged young lady who has had an aristocratic, jet-set childhood and has also modeled before starting up Le Crib.  I think this move is cool and bold, and I said so in a connect invite to her on LinkedIn.  

But I'm curious to know how plugged in she truly is with Generation Y, that is, Millennials like herself.  I'm even more curious, though, about her background and her reasoning behind this startup.  How is she navigating a privileged life and roughshod entrepreneurship?

Jay Leno Out, Jimmy Fallon In

Last week, NBC decided to move Jay Leno out of the `Tonight show, and sidle in Jimmy Fallon.  After all, Leno still commands late-night viewership.  Bloomberg's Stephanie Ruhle asks a good question, Will Fallon's viewers follow him into late-night?  But I think her colleague Jon Erhlichman's early point was a good one as well: Fallon is socially-plugged in, perhaps in ways that Leno is not.  

This shift reminds me of what the Chicago Bulls did in the late 1980s.  Coach Doug Collins had done a fabulous job of raising team performance and making a good showing in the playoffs.  But unexpectedly the front office decided to fire him, and bring in Phil Jackson who had no  head coaching experience in the NBA.  Word was, Collins took them as far as he could, and Jackson could then bring in the championship.  Man, did he ever!  

Leno has probably taken `Tonight as far as he could, and NBC brass surmised that Fallon could elevate the highly competitive game of late-night to some championship equivalent.

   

Sometimes Boss and Leader are the Same

(image credit)

Dennis Pitocco asks What's The Difference Between a "Boss" and a Leader? in a LinkedIn group.  

People still try to get mileage out of an old query (e.g., The Difference Between a Boss and a Leader?).  To be honest, though, it made for a stimulating discussion, when I delivered leadership training programs (rf. Are leaders born or made?).  

To which I replied simply:

Sometimes there isn't any difference.

Competitive Wisdom of Michael Steinhardt

virtue

“I thought there must be something more virtuous, more ennobling to do with one’s life than make rich people richer.”

competition

“I cared about one thing, and that one thing was having a better performance than anybody in America.”

art

“For me, running hedge funds was an art. It was something that I thought I did exceptionally well, and most of the world did not."

Reference: Michael Steinhardt, Wall Street's Greatest Trader, Is Back -- And He's Reinventing Investing Again.

Caring Leadership is about Team and Truth

team

I found the best leaders have love for their teams; who actually care deeply about the well being of those they lead.

caring

I always hold out hope that even these sorts of ‘tough’ people [e.g., Steve Jobs] will respond to a caring call, rather than an angry glare.

truth

There’s a proverb that says, “Better are the wounds of a friend, than many kisses of an enemy.” The truth hurts but lies can caress us into injury.

Reference: Results and Relationships: Leadership for Life.

I wrote the following, in response to Zachary Jeans' post on Google+:

We may not know exactly how Steve Jobs led and pushed his people, but it took two decades (at least) for him to hit his stride. Perhaps he found that right balance of driving hard and taking care and perhaps he knew how to adjust that balance for particular people who worked for him. Regardless, Apple produced a remarkable string of innovation and legions of fans across the world, in the final decade of his life. I imagine he got that proverb right, that you wrote about, Zachary! 

COO Firing Questions Marissa Mayer's Judgment

Henrique de Castro

The point I’m making is that the most successful leaders I’ve met or who I’ve written about study the art of public speaking, persuasion, and presentations. They rehearse, they work on body language and vocal delivery, and they are relentless in seeking feedback on their performance. ”A person can have the greatest idea in the world, but if that person cannot convince enough other people, it doesn’t matter,” writes Gregory Berns in Iconoclast.

Reference:  Did Poor Communication Skills Do In Yahoo's COO?

Coincidentally, an executive I'm coaching realized just recently that his direct boss valued those with good  public speaking skills.  His boss pointed out to him, for example, "He's a good leader."  Needless to say, this executive and I are developing this area of his repertoire.

From reports about his ouster, Henrique de Castro didn't have sufficient communication skills or the right communication style.  But while Forbes contributor Carmine Gallo revolves his article forthrightly on this area, I'm not so sure communication is the main issue in de Castro's firing.

First, his apparently abrasive, perhaps introverted personality may properly under gird his quantitative prowess and responsibilities, but undermine instead the sales and networking role that CEO Marissa Mayer tasked him with.  We don't know if de Castro had an executive coach or a senior mentor working with him, and we don't know how willing and able he would've been to change.  But, to be sure, communication looks to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Second, the question of fit falls squarely on Mayer's shoulders.  We are left to ask `What was she thinking, and what did she see that suggested a fit?  The expensive mistake that analysts call it was simply unearthed by the de Castro firing, but has it been adequately addressed and resolved, I wonder.

The latter issue, to be perfectly blunt about it, is very much still at Yahoo!  What coaching and-or mentoring does Mayer have, and how willing and able is she to learn and develop?  Her executive judgment needs to be addressed.

The Altered Numbers Profile for Oil and Gas

Saudi Aramco is the biggest oil company in the world, and Ali Ibrahim Al-Nuami presides over it all

Forbes Christopher Helman writes a very readable, informative article - The World's Biggest Oil Companies, 2013 - about dramatic changes in the oil and gas industry, especially as they relate to numbers. 

The industry is a sharp study in the complexity of business, economics and consumption.  The price of a barrel of crude is way up from 10 years ago, and what consumers like you and me pay at the pumps now would've been diagnosable Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, if we were made to dole out that amount in 2003.  Yet, supply is radically more plentiful, and shale has unleashed a veritable geopolitical earthquake and tsunami.  Increasingly power moves to North America.  

So how have the shifted numbers impacted your business coffers and your pocket books personally?