2. Manage To Lead: Seven Truths to Help You Change the World
In the role of chief executive, director, and manager, I have led dozens of successful organizations, which ranged in maturity from concept to employing thousands of people and, collectively, generated billions of dollars in economic value and social impact. Educators at the Commonwealth College at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and at the American University MSOD program in Washington, DC asked me to organize what I have learned into a form that can be shared with students.
The result is Manage to Lead, my playbook for guiding organizations to develop their operations to synchronize with their strategy. Operations refers to how to PLAY the game. Strategy refers to how to WIN the game. In Manage to Lead, I show how to turn strategy into operations and to simultaneously evolve strategy from operations using seven truths gleaned from 35 years creating and growing organizations.
These insights have been honed while teaching at a number of universities, most recently at American University where I serve as an adjunct professor teaching Master’s Students in Organization Development about leadership and organization analysis and strategy.  
Now, in the hope of helping you Manage to Lead, I will take the rest of the hour to present about 50 slides that summarize “lessons learned” from my library of more than 400.
Please keep in mind however that the insights are organic in the sense that they have evolved over time and continue to be refined and expanded upon.
With that, let’s talk about the Seven Truths that can help you change the world. You can ask a question or two as we go but know that there is time for questions and further discussion at the end.
Peter F. DiGiammarino
USAID Feed The Future Partnering for Innovation
May 21, 2013
Copyright 2013 IntelliVen, LLC and Peter F. DiGiammarino. 
All rights reserved. Quotation, reproduction or transmission is prohibited without written permission from IntelliVen, LLC and Peter F. DiGiammarino

3. First: Get Loose It isn’t easy to do.
Why is it hard for some people to connect nine dots with four straight lines without retracing or lifting their writing implement?
Because it requires a change in the way they usually think.

4. One-line solutions push norms even further.
You can change perspective. In non-Euclidian geometry all lines are the same line and connect at infinity!
Run time: 10:30-11:00

5. Change the Problem
Imagine we are an organization that connects dots and lines are our cost.
How would we maximize dot-connectedness while minimizing lines to make the most profit?
16 points of
connection with
no lines
12 points of
connection with
no lines
Run time: 10:30-11:00

6. The Seven Truths are powerful.
Management and leadership work together.
The truths are simple…disarmingly simple.
They facilitate change on any level of system:
Personal (e.g., weight loss)
Team (e.g., work better together)
Company (e.g., enter a new market)
Town (e.g., improve attractiveness to commuters who bike)
Country (e.g., overthrow a dictator)
Each truth drives action.
We start with a few words about the seven truths which, taken as a whole, are really quite powerful.
Some ask:
“Do I need to be a better manager?” or
“Do I need to be a better leader?”
The 7 truths show that doing things that look like management works with leadership and in that sense you really can Manage to Lead.
Each truth is really quite simple…some say disarmingly simple.  
Academics point out that the truths apply equally well at any “level of system” which is OD terminology that means they apply to:
an individual trying to do something like, say, get fit, to
a group of people who want to accomplish something important as a team,
to a company trying to enter a new market or rollout a new product,
a township trying to improve its attractiveness, and even to
a country campaigning to over through a dictator.
It is in this context that the truths help you change the world whatever your world happens to be.
There is structure to the truths in that each drives clear and specific action. We will look at each truth and the action it drives and also an introduction to how to carry out that action.
Finally, all the truths are present and active all the time. They are not steps or stages. You and your organization should assess where you are in light of each truth all the time and try to progress towards ever more clarity and maturity of action on each.

7. Long-term performance and growth comes with continuous and balanced development of actions in accord with all seven truths.

8. Get Clear Know whose problem you solve, how, and how well.
Truth. An organization exists to solve a problem for people.
Action.
Get Clear
Know whose problem you solve, how, and how well.

9. WHAT WHOM WHY Natural personal hygiene products
provides…
WHAT
Natural personal
hygiene products
for…
WHOM
Global consumers committed
to a more sustainable world
WHY
To get quality products that fit lifestyle and values at a fair price

10. What does ___________ provide, for whom, and why?
____________ provides…
WHAT
Iterate with top team to agree on
W-W-W
for…
WHO
WHY

11. Get Aligned Decide what kind of leader to be and collect followers.
Truth. It takes a team.
Action.
Get Aligned
Decide what kind of leader to be and collect followers.

12. Align leaders for synergy.
Team of leaders
Each leader has
aligned followers.
Each leader’s team
is pulling in the
same direction.
Team of aligned teams all
pulling in the same direction
creates a force to be reckoned with.
Run time: 9:30-10:30
The leaders job is just another job- There are lots of things that need to get done and the leader is just another thing that has to get done.
Small group at the top no less than 3 no more than 7. Have to be do-sell-grow and one person can’t do it, two, still not enough, more than seven is too much.
Each leader has their aligned resources all headed in the same direction.
It is amazing how much gets done when we don’t worry about who gets credit.

13. Align Leaders for Success
Boss
3-7 top execs aligned to accomplish objectives as a cohesive unit:
with established relationships
with desire, drive, capacity, and competence
with complementary skills and compatible orientations
with instinct and innate drive to work with each other
who give credit for success to everyone else
who are driven to grow and empower others over time
Leader
Core Leadership Group
Run time: 9:30-10:30
Here is you as the leader, know what you are trying to do, try to build and develop a team
1st. Thing to do is build the leadership team- executive committee
2nd the executive team works within a larger community. To grow the organization, grow the leaders a level down- this is how the organization scales.
Leadership Community
Workers

14. Plan Change Decide what must change, why, and how.
Truth. Context matters.
Action.
Plan Change
Decide what must change, why, and how.

15. Turbulence requires action.
There are three choices of action in the face of growth and changing internal and/or external circumstances.
TRANSFORM
GROWTH
Change a lot: From time to time you need to change a lot because if you always do only what you have done to be successful up to now, you will surely fail (eventually).
No change: Most of the time, no change is the right answer; constant change would be chaos and could be disastrous.
Change a little: Always changing only a little leads to “creeping incrementalism” and eventual vulnerability.
TURBULENCE
DEATH SPIRAL
The start of a new phase is characterized by a period of “figuring it out” followed by a burst of clarity and a “run-up”…there is nothing better than being part of a successful run-up
The risk is that we think it is clear sailing from here on and we hit some turbulence and miss a key transition
which could cause the company tp plateau, stall, or goes into free-fall or death-spiral, and
we end up being just another company that had “such potential”.
Adapted from Catlin & Cookman Group's Building the Profit Spiral ®

16. Leadership must determine what is most important to change next.
What must change next?
TURBULENCE
TRANSFORM
What must change next?
TRANSFORM
TURBULENCE
TRANSFORM
What must change next?
TURBULENCE

17. Executive off-sites often end with a list of initiatives.
…but do any get completed?

18. Change Framework Core leaders, the management team, and future leaders can use the Change Framework to determine what to change next.
What really good things happen if we change?
What really bad things happen if we do not change?
Case for Change
How things are now.
Current State
How things will be after the change.
Target State
In SHOW mode and connected to the Internet, click to fill out for your initiatives and hit SUBMIT.
What must be done to achieve the Target State.
Run time: 10:45-11:45
Describe the current state, how things are today
What really good things happen if we change/bad things
If we did this and the good things happened what would the future be like
What would be hard about getting from today to future
The first three things can happen before the offsite- could talk to the team before and find out 1,2,3 roll that out in the offsite. Show the responses and where there are similar responses. In the offsite get everyone on the same page for 1,2,3
If the leader thinks they already know all of this what would you say?
How do you know that? Want to verify it?
What will be hard about implementing the actions needed to achieve the target state?
Barriers

19. Do & Review Take action. Review what happens.
Truth. It pays to pay attention.
Action.
Do & Review
Take action. Review what happens.

20. Do & Review Cycle Annual Cycle Monthly Cycle Exception Process
What’s next?
Start
Set goal for
measures
Set what
to track
Define Success
Annual
Cycle
Goal Achieved?
Yes
Monthly
Cycle
Are
results as
expected?
Perform
Measure
COMPARE
Exception
Process
Are
observations
correct? No
Yes
Fix
Study like orgs
Quarterly
Cycle
Verify goal
is still right
Revise
Project
To do differently
going forward
Determine significance
and impact
NOW
WHAT? SO
WHY?
Determine why actual differs from projection
Determine what occurred

21. Get Help Build a board. Retain experts. Get a coach.
Truth. No leader succeeds alone.
Action.
Get Help
Build a board. Retain experts. Get a coach.

22. Support Structure for Success
Boss
Accountability Board
Peer Group
Leader
Subject Matter Experts
Core Leadership Group
Leadership Community
In SHOW mode and connected to the Internet, click to fill out for your organization, and hit SUBMIT.
Executive Coach
Run time: 9:30-10:30
Here is you as the leader, know what you are trying to do, try to build and develop a team
1st. Thing to do is build the leadership team- executive committee
2nd the executive team works within a larger community. To grow the organization, grow the leaders a level down- this is how the organization scales.
Workers
Inside the organization
Outside the organization

23. Grow Grow to increase value, impact, and opportunity.
Truth. Growth is good.
Action.
Grow
Grow to increase value, impact, and opportunity.

24. With growth in size and complexity,
add just enough structure to stay effective.
HIGH
Larger organizations need more structure.
In small organizations each person does a lot of different things.
With growth, people need to specialize and processes and systems are required to get things done well. X0
Your Co
Add just enough structure to maintain or increase effectiveness. X2
IBM
Accenture X1
Growth leads to less effectiveness without some increase in structure.
Effectiveness
Systems & Process Maturity
LOW
HIGH
Government Agency
Electric Utility
Dot.Com
LOW

25. Focus Act intentionally, persist variously.
Truth. It’s OK to do what you like and are good at.
Action.
Focus
Act intentionally, persist variously.

26. Doing too many things lowers the odds of success for each of them.
PROJECTS 1 2 3 n …
PROs
Working on many things should increase the odds that something goes right.
If nothing goes right, you can blame it on being too busy.
Time is spent based on interrupts from , texts, tweets, calls, conversations, knocks on the door, etc.
Often feel like a “hero”.
CONs
Goals are not met because each gets too little time, attention, and effort.
Work real hard but get little done.
Get tired, lose confidence, feel ineffective.
Inflated sense of self importance.
Many people talk about focus. Here is how to actually do it!

27. Focus increases the odds of success.
PROJECTS … 1
Sort projects in priority order.
Spend all time on highest priority project until one more hour does not raise the odds of success. Assign the rest to others, stop doing, or defer.
Guarantee that if things don’t work out another project will be assigned…and if that one doesn‘t work out yet another will be assigned and so on.
If six projects fail then it may be time to look for another job.
With limited resources, don’t try to get everything right but be sure to get something right!
Run time: 11:30-12:00

28. In order to increase the odds of happiness and top performance learn what people like and what they are good at so they can be aligned with what they want.
Value
Many people want to do something other than what they like and what they are good at because they believe others think that something else is more valued.
Good At
Like
Want
Good At
Like
Want
Value
The leader’s job is to ask people to do what they like and what they are good at and also to show them that what they are good at and like are indeed valued so that they will WANT to do it.

29. Performance and growth comes with balanced development of actions across all seven truths.

30. What The University of Nebraska provides for whom, and why.
WHAT: Brown midrib (bmr) sorghum varieties
WHO: the dairy farm industry
WHY: which provide forage that is more highly digestible and thus produce 20% more milk and more meat, at a lower production cost, than non-bmr varieties and maize, and thus increase dairy farm profits, promote food security, mitigate hunger, and provide employment for all actors along the value chain from seed production and dissemination to the production level and on to the retail distributor of dairy products.

31. What The University of Nebraska provides for whom, and why.
Are we talking about an organization within the University or is this really the purpose of UN?
What The University of Nebraska provides for whom, and why.
In any particular part of the world?
Of all sizes and stages of evolution?
Who in any actual dairy farm is the buyer?
WHAT: Brown midrib (bmr) sorghum varieties
WHO: the dairy farm industry
WHY: which provide forage that is more highly digestible and thus produce 20% more milk and more meat, at a lower production cost, than non-bmr varieties and maize, and thus increase dairy farm profits, promote food security, mitigate hunger, and provide employment for all actors along the value chain from seed production and dissemination to the production level and on to the retail distributor of dairy products.
Answers: “What”?
Answers “Why”
Answers: “Who”

32. What WorldFish incubator provides for whom, and why.
WHAT: Technology to improve efficiency of aquaculture. Assistance to connect fledgling businesses to grow. Learning platform for sharing of series and creating wider impact
WHAT: Technological input to improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact. It also provides assistance on how to plan, organise and structure fledgling businesses into an investor ready state.
WHO: Poor farmers and actors in value chains for aquaculture products
WHO: Poor farmer producers and other disadvantaged actors in aquaculture and other aquatic related supply chains.
WHY: Improve food security. Provide a route to lift the poor and disadvantaged out of poverty in a sustainable way.
WHY: To improve food security and provide a route to lift the poor & disadvantaged permanantly out of poverty in a sustainable way.

33. What Sistema Biobolsa provides for whom, and why.
WHAT: high quality anaerobic digester system, biogas appliances, financing, education, and capacity building
WHO: small and medium scale dairy, pig, and other animal farmers for whom the waste treatment, renewable energy, and organic fertilizer can provide economic, health, and environmental benefits.
WHY: Sistema Biobolsa resolves key problems for smallholder farmers, including waste management and energy and fertilizer procurement. By improving the sustainability of these three core aspects of small farms we are able to significantly improve the economic viability and appeal of small farms, reduce the environmental impact of food production, and reinforce social and environmental values in rural communities.

34. What Grameen Foundation provides for whom, and why.
WHAT: In Mobile Agriculture, Grameen Foundation provides empirically validated sets of practices that enable trusted local farmers empowered with mobile technology and smart software applications to reliably provide advice, information and practical guidance to assigned neighboring farmers, and provide a feedback channel for those farmers and their challenges so that wider resources can be made available to them. These increase access to goods and services, and enable/facilitate transactions that include the poor.
WHO
Smallholder farmers who are remote, often illiterate and almost always greatly under-served by traditional modes of national agriculture extension.
At an intermediate level: not-for-profit organizations, public extension agencies and other organizations who are looking to improve their reach and their cost-effectiveness.
At a paying client level, agencies such as World Bank who need better ways to collect data from the BoP.
WHY: To level the playing field for the poor, by reducing information asymmetries that contribute to short term decision-making, chronic low productivity, farming and household vulnerability. To help other pro-poor organizations become more efficient (cost) and effective (outcomes). To help create better ‘visibility’ for the remote rural poor so that a wider range of goods and services become available to them from public and private sources.

35. What SANREM Innovation Lab provides for whom, and why.
WHAT: Knowledge, capacity building, new farming tools
WHO: Small farm householders in disadvantaged regions of the world
WHY: Food insecurity, low income, degrading natural resource base

36. What Jeremy provides for whom, and why.
Soil testing services
Recommendations on how to improve soil productivity
Recommendations on which fertilizers to use
WHO: East Africa’s farmers
WHY: To increase farmers profitability by increasing crop yields and reducing input costs.

37. What WorldFish Incubator provides for whom, and why.
WHAT: Technological input to improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact. It also provides assistance on how to plan, organise and structure fledgling businesses into an investor ready state.
WHO: Poor farmer producers and other disadvantaged actors in aquaculture and other aquatic related supply chains.
WHY: To improve food security and provide a route to lift the poor & disadvantaged permanantly out of poverty in a sustainable way.

38. What Catholic Relief Services Agricultural Livelihoods Program provides for whom, and why.
WHAT: High quality technical assistance, training and brokerage products and services for improving the productivity, profitability, diversity and environmental sustainability of the agricultural systems on which the livelihoods of vulnerable farm families in developing countries depend
WHO: Our partners in developing countries through whom these products and services are delivered to target populations
WHY: To restore, build and grow the assets of highly vulnerable rural households and communities so that they become more prosperous and resilient to external shocks

39. Subscribe at www. intelliven
Subscribe at to learn when Manage to Lead is available as an interactive workbook for use on any computer using the Chrome or Safari browser and pad or phone supported by the leading platform for interactive higher education textbooks. 
Print and electronic copies will also be available.

40. Subscribe www.intelliven.com Follow @intelliven
Thank you.
Subscribe