When thinking about what traits a good leader has, charisma is right up there at the top. You may have a brilliant business mind, but if you can’t grab a microphone and sway an audience to share your vision, you’ll have a hard time leading a business.

But, researchers have just found that being too charismatic can actually be a bad thing for leadership. In a study published in the “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,” researchers from Ghent University, the University of Antwerp, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Kaiser Leadership Solutions found that leaders who are seen as highly charismatic may also be seen as less effective at leading a business.

This is because rallying people to believe in your vision is much different than running the day-to-day operation of that vision once it’s realized and that’s where overly charismatic people can falter.

The researchers studied 800 business leaders around the world from all levels of management and talked with 7,500 of those business leaders’ peers, subordinates and superiors. They found that people’s perception of a leader’s charisma increased along with their perception of that leader’s effectiveness, but only up to a certain point (the 60th percentile). If a leader’s charisma was seen as going beyond that point (just above the average for working adults), people’s perception of the leader’s effectiveness actually started to decline.

Tellingly, leaders who perceived themselves as highly charismatic also perceived themselves to be highly effective, meaning they remain unaware of their own ineffectiveness.

More strategic, less operational

Leaders who were perceived to be highly charismatic were seen to engage in more strategic behavior and less operational behavior, meaning they concentrated more on the overall business strategy than the day-to-day running of their businesses.

“Highly charismatic leaders may be strategically ambitious, but this comes at the expense of getting day-to-day work activities executed in a proper manner, which can hurt perceived effectiveness,” the researchers said in a recent article about the study.

While charismatic leaders tended to fail at being methodical in getting things accomplished in the near-term, non-charismatic leaders were also perceived to be ineffective, just for different reasons. They were seen to be ineffective because they failed at long-term planning, seeing a big picture perspective, questioning the status quo and encouraging innovation.

So, clearly leaders need to walk a fine line between being seen as lacking charisma and having too much of it. Let’s look at four behaviors to watch out for and then how you can straddle that line to stay in the “just enough” zone of charisma.

1. Self-Confidence

Self-confidence is a must in a leadership role, but, as the researchers point out, too much self-confidence in highly charismatic people can often turn into overconfidence and outright narcissism.

2. Persuasiveness

A must in business when attracting investors and getting people on board with your vision, in highly charismatic people, this can morph into outright manipulative behavior.

3. Enthusiasm

To get people excited about your vision, you have to be an exciting person. However, if you’re too exciting, you could easily start being an attention seeker who ultimately distracts from your business.

4. Creativity

Highly charismatic people are usually really creative, but if they allow their creativity to run a little too wild, it might turn into eccentricity. And while being a little eccentric isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if you’re known more for your idiosyncrasies than your leadership, it could distract from your organization.

What you can do if you’re too charismatic.

As stated earlier, highly charismatic people tend to think they are more effective than they are perceived by their peers and colleagues to be, meaning they aren’t going to know when they’re being ineffective.

To counteract this, the researchers suggest enrolling in business coaching programs that focus on shoring up potential operational weaknesses in your business that you might not notice.

They also suggest highly charismatic leaders seek out personal development programs that can help raise their self-awareness and improve their self-regulation, things they tend to lack.

Most importantly, leaders should always be getting feedback from their peers and colleagues on their effectiveness to prevent any gaps in how they perceive their effectiveness versus how others perceive it. Needless to say, this feedback would probably be best gathered anonymously.

When it comes to business leaders, charisma is obviously a good thing, but steps might have to be taken to counteract it if you have too much of that good thing.

The post Are You a Highly Charismatic Person? Science Says You Might Be Seen as an Ineffective Business Leader appeared first on Cross Ocean Ventures.

In our current culture of celebrity worship, we often look to well-known names and faces to teach us things. You’ll find enough lessons inadvertently taught by the likes of Elon Musk and the late Steve Jobs to fill a library full of books.

But, we can also learn from people of the distant past. Take Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), for example. Devoted to the ancient Greek philosophy of Stoicism, Aurelius was known as the “philosopher king.”

To keep himself true to Stoicism, Aurelius wrote a book that was never meant to be read by the public, but was posthumously published as the Meditations, chronicling 12 different periods of his life.

And now, allow me to generalize and oversimplify five of these important lessons so we can apply them to the 21st century.

The longest-lived and the shortest-lived man, when they come to die, lose one and the same thing. (Book 2, Ch. 11)

Life is brief. We came from atoms and we will go back to atoms in the infinite universe, so be genuinely happy and enjoy the opportunity to have your human experience.

Don’t be afraid to take risks because it is the journey of life rather than the destination that counts. The real value in life is in the experiences you have, not what you end up with at the end.

Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect. (Book 3, Ch. 7)

Be truthful to others and yourself. As leaders, trustworthiness and respect form the ground you stand on. Without them, you will not be able to operate as a true leader.

If you find yourself taking an action just because you can benefit from it, ask yourself if it means breaking your word and also ask yourself if you had to explain your decision to take that action to someone you care about, would you feel ashamed while doing it? If the answer is “yes” to either of those questions, maybe that action isn’t worth taking.

Remember that all is opinion. (Book 2, Ch. 15)

Everything we read and hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

Expect to be wrong from time to time and expect to be given wrong information occasionally. Leaders often don’t deal with absolute facts, which means you have to ask a lot of questions to get the most accurate information. If you are making decisions without asking questions, you are setting yourself up for a fall.

Very little is needed to make a happy life. (Book 7, Ch. 67)

There is a longer quote in Meditations (the Gregory Hays translation) that can be added to this point: “Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.”

When you only need a little to be happy, it frees you to be a courageous and generous leader because you won’t be as concerned with trying to accumulate wealth for yourself. The best part of the Stoic philosophy is the simplicity of its message of focusing your mind on the things you have versus what you do not have and living the life you do have versus pining for a life you don’t have.

Aurelius’s book is full of gems for both current and aspiring leaders. And it’s refreshing to see that even though Aurelius was an absolute leader with the absolute power that so many modern day tyrants crave, he was content and refrained from abusing that power. (Although, whether or not he abused his power would, of course, depend on your perspective.)

Aurelius intended to write his book solely for himself as a guide for day-to-day leading of an empire. Fortunately for us, it has been shared with the public and we can all use its valuable lessons.

The post 4 Proven Leadership Ideas That Are Nearly 2,000 Years Old–And Still Relevant appeared first on Cross Ocean Ventures.

Promises are essentially verbal contracts we make with each other or with ourselves. If you’ve broken a promise, you’ve broken one of these contracts (and even though that may not stand up in the court of law, it will definitely stand up in the court of friends, family and acquaintances).

Because I believe strongly in the sanctity of promises, I also believe they can be helpful when it comes to leadership in business. I don’t make actual verbal promises to my team, but I like to keep a list of promises I’ve essentially made to myself in regards to how I treat my team.

Try making them with yourself. You’ll be a better leader for it.

I will never lie to my team.

This one is obvious. You don’t have to say everything to everyone on your team, but if you can’t provide an answer to a question, just say you can’t answer it rather than coming up with a lie just to seem like you have an answer.

Beyond the moral reasoning of this promise, there are two other important factors:

• Being honest is simply an easier thing to do.
• You cannot establish trust and leadership when you lie.

I will never say “How about you ….” to a team member.

When someone starts a sentence with “How about you ….” the words that follow are almost always requests or orders put in the form of a suggestion. This is just a disguised way of saying: “I think you should do it the way I want you to do it.”

Maybe you do want someone on your team to do something a certain way, but you don’t have to be passive aggressive about saying it. Explain your reasoning to them and make sure they’re on board with your intentions.

I will never have the most expensive car in my company parking lot.

This one is quite easy for me to keep because I’m not really a “car guy” and luxury to me is going to the occasional restaurant that has cloth napkins instead of paper ones. Other business owners and CEOs, though, might like luxury and they might like expensive cars, but having the most expensive car in your company parking lot sends a strong message and it’s not a good one.

Whether you mean it to or not, it says: “I can buy the most expensive car here because I can afford it and you can’t.” That expensive car (or other display of ostentatious wealth) symbolizes your position and makes everyone walking through the parking lot wonder where they stand in the hierarchy of the company.

Each time someone asks for a raise or for money for a project they believe is important for the good of the company, your response of “No, we can’t at this time because …” becomes harder to believe.

I will never make a decision another team member is assigned and empowered to make.

Stepping in and making a decision that falls within the job description and decision making power of a team member is telling that person one of two things:

• You don’t believe they can make the right decision, so you have to make it for them, or
• Their professional development is less important than your desire to exercise your power to make decisions wherever and whenever you want.

There may be times when you have to step in and make a decision that would normally fall to someone on your team for some reason, but you shouldn’t step in and do it for no reason. It only undermines the important relationships that you have to build in a healthy company.

I will never only pretend to listen to my team members.

You have to listen to others if you expect them to listen to you in return. When someone is spending time and energy to tell you something they believe is important, the least you can do is to give them your full attention.

I will never keep anyone on a team that I don’t believe can grow within the team.

If you don’t believe someone can grow professionally in your organization because they don’t have the capacity, skill or motivation, then the best thing for that person and the team is to make a change. Let them move onto their next phase of their career and find someone who does have a future with your company. And if you cannot make that decision and execute on it, maybe it is your leadership that needs a change.

I will never be rude to my team members.

There is nothing you can gain by being rude. If you believe like I do that the best leaders lead by example, then even on your worst day you have to be polite and to all your team members.

By keeping these simple promises to yourself and, in turn, your team members, you’ll be creating a more positive work environment for everyone. I promise.

The post 7 Things You Should Promise to Never Do as a Leader appeared first on Cross Ocean Ventures.

Companies and yogurt have at least one thing in common: they both need culture to survive. A company without culture is merely a group of disconnected individuals working toward a vague goal. A yogurt without culture is just milk.

This article will be about company culture (you can find my in-depth article about yogurt culture in the next edition of Dairy Weekly magazine).

There are two ways of developing a strong corporate culture:

• Direct-Set, which is a culture that is deliberately planned and implemented using a blueprint for the various elements (listed below) that make up a company’s work life; and
• Heirloom, which is a more naturally occurring culture that develops over time through the practices handed down from generation to generation within the company.

Corporate culture is the cumulative sum of all values, attitudes, traditions, principles and systems within a company, plus the meaning employees attach to being part of that organization.

Creating a corporate culture from scratch involves every element at a company’s disposal. Here are the main tools you can utilize to shape your corporate culture.

Hires

A successful company is diverse in skill set, experiences and personality. But, if you favor a certain trait in your employees that you believe will contribute to your vision of your corporate culture, start looking for that trait right from your first hire and look for it via the questions you pose during your interviews.

Interior Design

Your office space says a lot about the kind of corporate culture you want. The colors, the amount of open space, the design, the layout, it all speaks to what type of environment you are trying to create. A lot of open common areas will facilitate employee collaboration while cubicles promote individualism. Plan your office carefully.

Performance Reviews

What you deem important during your performance review and how you reflect that in the review report demonstrates your organizational priorities to your team members. Do you value customer service above all else? Then that better be at the top of the report (literally, above all else).

Pay

You can shape and influence what your team members focus on by how your company determines the monetary compensation structure in your company. Raises, promotions, bonus structures etc. should be aligned with the cultural elements you want to foster.

Rituals

How you celebrate work anniversaries, birthdays, personal and corporate successes all contribute to your corporate culture. Whether it’s five minute team meditations in the morning or ringing a bell after a big sale, rituals bring people together because they feel like they are a part of something exclusive.

Communication

How and how often you share news, give updates or solicit feedback is critical. There is a major difference between a one-page company newsletter emailed once per month and holding regular town hall style meetings in the office every week. The genuineness of the communication and the extent of the information shared all show your team members what kind of a company you are.

Dismissals and Promotions

Who you fire, who you promote and how quickly you perform these tasks impacts company culture immensely. Not tolerating dishonesty or bullying–even from the stars of your company–speaks volumes, as does promoting by merit rather than seniority.

Business Processes

The amount of paperwork, how your company meetings are structured, the design of your hierarchy and the way the various departments interact with each other are all critical. As your company grows, your business processes will become more important in not only shaping what type of company you are, but in determining how flexible or fragile your company culture will be. You should have a solid company structure in place before you hit 25 employees.

Social, Community, Team Building Activities

These might not apply to every company, but if your company culture involves making a positive social impact, being environmentally conscious, being community focused and team oriented, then you need to have activities in place to support that.

You and Your Leadership

You lead by example. Therefore, what you do is always more important than what you say. It is not one moment, one presentation or one crisis that defines you, but how you carry yourself as a leader every day. So, use yourself as the number one tool of your corporate culture creation and transformation. If you want to make a change in corporate culture, you have to start by changing your own behavior. If your company has more than one recognized leader–like multiple co-founders–you all need to have a unified message and not send contradictory messages.

The process of developing corporate culture is a gradual one. The process of developing corporate culture is a gradual one. Like a slowly growing retirement fund, if you keep adding small elements to it, you’ll eventually end up with what you need.

The post How to Create a Culture Your Employees Will Love appeared first on Cross Ocean Ventures.

The act of listening is pretty simple.

Ok, technically it’s not that simple, but I don’t want to get into the actual logistics of sound waves and how you detect them. I just mean when you listen to someone speaking, all you need to do is give them your attention and hear what they’re saying, right?

That works perfectly fine for passive listening, but we are more interested in active listening because active listening is the one trait that all truly great leaders have and if you can master the art of active listening, you’ll be a better leader. Remember: good communication starts with listening.

Here are seven ways you can become a better active listener.

1. Use your body.

Listening happens with your whole body, not just your ears.

Keep eye contact and don’t skimp on your facial expressions. Face the person with your whole body pointing towards them, not away from them. Facing another direction indicates you want to leave.

Have an open posture, which means not hiding your body behind your crossed arms or legs, or another object. Be still and control any urge to shake or fidget.

Besides paying attention to your own body language, also pay attention to theirs. Notice their non-verbal communication, where their legs and feet are, how genuine their facial expressions are and whether they are closing themselves off from you.

It’s worth it to study up on your body language reading skills.

2. Use silence.

Another important tip about listening is to use strategic pauses. Often, the most honest information someone shares comes right after a moment of silence. It might feel unnatural, but that moment of silence will often prompt a person to keep talking in order to fill it, often revealing something they weren’t planning to beforehand.

You’ll notice this technique used during in-depth interviews with people on TV or in documentaries. The interviewer or filmmaker will linger after a response to a question is given and not immediately jump in with another question. Often, the interview subject will reveal a more honest answer after an elongated pause because they believe they are expected to continue talking (or they are just uncomfortable with pauses in conversation).

This technique is especially helpful when interviewing job prospects.

3. Avoid judging, interrupting and planning.

As important as what you should remember to do is what you should not do while you are actively listening.

Never interrupt the other person (unless you absolutely have to or they are not actually talking about anything worth listening to … in which case you absolutely have to).

Don’t Judge. Instead, even if you disagree, listen, observe and learn. Judging is pointless and will put you into a negative state of mind.

Don’t start planning what you are going to say after the speaker finishes while the speaker is still talking. It is pointless, counterproductive and rude.

4. Question effectively.

Questions are tools you can use to clarify and expand a conversation. They challenge assumptions and can foster creativity. Be aware of not only the questions you ask, but why you’re asking them.

5. Avoid distractions.

No cell phone, no TV in the background and no fidgeting with stuff, especially if you are having a conversation over the phone and the other person is doing most of the talking. Don’t do anything else. Despite the whole ‘multitasking’ myth, our brains are not designed to do so many things at the same time.

6. Don’t automatically try to be a “solver.”

One thing people do that can be incredibly irritating to others is to always be offering advice, suggestions and ways to fix things when they’re listening to someone. People, much of the time, are not actually looking for advice on fixing anything. They just want others to listen to what they have to say without the other person feeling like they have to solve the problem that is being talked about.

Unless someone explicitly asks you how to fix something, resist the urge to offer solutions. They may be completely unwanted. There’s nothing wrong with being nice and trying to help, but before you do that, make sure you know the other person actually wants your help.

7. Use the “Drive-Through Rule” if you have to.

Lastly, make sure you are hearing what you think you are hearing.

When you order at a drive through, they make sure they repeat it back to you and confirm your order before they finalize it. For anything you hear in a conversation that you are not 100 percent sure of, repeat it back to the other person to confirm. When the person hears what they just said, they’ll either confirm or it might give them the chance to clarify their position further.

Good listening skills are a requirement of good leadership. If you want to lead people and influence them, show them you can and will listen to them.

The post Be the Best Leader You Can Be by Learning This One Crucial Skill appeared first on Cross Ocean Ventures.

You’re probably tired of hearing stereotypes about your generation, and so am I.

Frankly, in interviewing candidates at my company, I’ve seen just as many people who disprove Millennial stereotypes as individuals who embody them. And in my experience working with members of this generation, I found that Millennials are actually some of the smartest and hardest-working people out there.

These stereotypes still persist, though, and as a Millennial, you’ll have to combat them one way or another.

The Millennial generation, which includes anyone born between 1980 and 2000, has been hit hard by the recession. Many Millennials entered a poor job market at graduation, and their income has fallen 8% since the recession began. That’s more than double the drop in salaries for the entire U.S. population.

All of this means Millennials have to fight extra hard to get and keep the jobs and lifestyles they want — including combating employer biases built on stereotypes about their generation.

Here are the stereotypes today’s young professionals are up against:

Millennials feel entitled.

Common rhetoric says Millennials have a strong sense of entitlement. They see telecommuting, flexible work schedules, a private office, and other perks from their employer as rights — not privileges.

They need constant affirmation.

Due to a trend in childrearing that emphasized constant positive reinforcement, Millennials require constant feedback, assessment, and recognition for their work.

They change jobs frequently.

Because of these expectations and the need for a fast-paced job environment and immediate opportunities for career advancement, Millennials are unlikely to stay at one job for more than a couple of years. This stereotype says that Millennials are impatient because they’ve grown up in a tech-soaked, instant-gratification world.

These images paint Millennials as a self-focused, impatient, and disrespectful generation with an overinflated sense of self-importance. As we all know, these stereotypes are simply not true across the board, but misinformation can affect your chances of landing a job and advancing in your career.

So, how do you present an image that refutes these expectations? First, by being aware of them, and then by intentionally behaving differently.

These are a few suggestions to specifically address stereotypes in a productive way:

1. Get a mentor.

Having someone on your side to give you advice and an outside perspective can make all the difference in your career. Mentors who’ve been where you are can help you work through complicated situations, and your employer will appreciate your dedication to professional growth.

2. Get a job, and stick with it.

One of the most important questions I ask potential job applicants is whether they’re seeking this job for the long term or if it’s just a stepping stone to something bigger. No employer wants to cultivate a great employee who will take off after one or two years. Be clear about your intentions from the start.

3. Set goals and achieve them.

Employers love seeing candidates who set career and personal goals and achieve them. This sends a strong message that you’re focused, goal-oriented, and capable of accomplishing what you set out to do.

4. Be humble.

No matter what successes you’ve had in the past, be unassuming as you enter the workforce. It’s better to be humble and demonstrate results than to enter with pride and achieve less than expected. Let your actions speak for you, and embrace new successes with grace.

5. Be patient.

Personal and career growth takes time. Make it clear to your employer that you’re interested in growing over the long term and contributing to your organization. Your career advancement will happen organically as you prove yourself and improve your skills.

6. Don’t take perks for granted.

Don’t assume you’re going to get all the perks you seek in a good job. Employers recovering from the recession want to use excess funds to build up cash reserves. Communicate your intention to support and build the company, and you might get more benefits in the future.

7. Be honest.

Employers want workers who are open about their achievements, failures, and intentions. Transparency goes both ways for both leadership and staff.

8. Work hard.

Put your whole heart into whatever you’re doing — no matter what part of your career you’re in. Don’t take shortcuts or over-delegate simple tasks. Work smart, and work hard.

Whether you’ve got a job or you’re looking for one, the best defense against getting pigeonholed by expectations is to be a person of integrity and to let that shine through. If you’re even half as tired of hearing these stereotypes as I am, why not actively work to change them? You’ll surprise your future employers and be more successful in your career.

Originally from Turkey, Zeynep Ilgaz and her husband co-founded Confirm BioSciencesandTestCountry, where Ilgaz serves as president. Confirm BioSciences is committed to being on the cutting edge of offering new, service-oriented drug testing technologies.

The post 8 Ways To Beat Millennial Stereotypes And Win Over Employers appeared first on Cross Ocean Ventures.