Not every company has an Iron Man, but many have a Tony Stark—a highly powerful, intensely-focused individual who often ignores risk in order to achieve his or her goals.

That’s usually a good thing—as long as companies make sure to also hire a Pepper Potts to keep their powerful leaders grounded, according to new research co-authored by a Brigham Young University (BYU) business professor.

“Organizations need to anticipate the tendency of their most powerful members to leap without looking,” said study co-author Katie Liljenquist, a professor of organizational leadership at BYU's Marriott School of Management. “The remedy is to surround them with people who can see other angles, or can play a devil’s advocate role to point out risk. Interestingly, it is the low-power members of the organization who are best equipped to do this.”

The study, appearing online ahead of print in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, found that powerful people are less likely to see constraints in pursuing their goals. Meanwhile, their low-power counterparts are more aware of the risks around them.

Liljenquist says the phenomenon mirrors the animal kingdom: Predators have evolved to have an extremely narrow eye focus for tracking prey, but this compromises their peripheral vision. Meanwhile, prey animals sacrifice such visual focus for more sensitive peripheral vision that tracks movement and potential threats in the surrounding environment.

“In business settings you need both,” Liljenquist said. “You need the people with that unfettered confidence and optimism and the willingness to take big risks, but you need those low-power individuals who say, ‘Hey wait a second. Let’s identify the pitfalls.’”

Donald Trump is a perfect example of a leader whose confidence guides business decisions. During the first season of his reality show, The Apprentice, Trump offered the winner a chance to manage the construction of the Trump Tower in Chicago—even though the tower hadn’t been fully approved yet.

“Trump didn’t even have clearance to build that tower yet,” said study lead author Jennifer Whitson. “It was that incredible confidence. He didn’t have all his ducks in a row yet, but he acted—and it worked out for him.”

Liljenquist says that failure to consider constraints can carry weighty repercussions, such as the housing market crises and bank failures of 2008 that caused the worst economic recession since the 1920s.

“Although blindness to constraints may make the powerful more willing to pursue their goals, their willingness to leap before they look may also sow the seeds of their own fall and the fall of those who depend on them,” she said. “Power often perpetuates itself and can lead to great things, but when powerful people are blind-sided by unexpected challenges, they may crash and burn.” 

The 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle disaster is a classic example of how power can be blinding. On that fateful day, powerful individuals doggedly pursued launch while ignoring the low-power employees who tried to be a voice of warning about the possibility of mechanical failures.

The study was led by Whitson, an assistant professor of business at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Other contributing researchers are from Columbia University, New York University, Stanford University and the University of Colorado-Boulder.

(Story materials and images from BYU.)

Thinking about attending GBTA's 2013 Masters Program, February 20-21 at the Mandarin Oriental in Washington, D.C.? 

GBTA, as part of it's partnership with MPI, is now offering an MPI-member exclusive discount of US$600 on registration to attend this program that brings together some of the greatest minds in the business travel community for unparalleled networking and education. The event will focus on strategic leadership, global thinking and technology, and will provide a unique opportunity to gain access and critical insights from some of the most innovative, world-class business leaders of our time.

To register as an MPI member and receive the discounted registration rate, simply visit http://www.gbta.org/masters/Pages/default.aspx and enter promo code: MPI.

Not an MPI member and want to join today so you can take advantage of this great offer as well as all of the benefits that come with being part of the MPI community? Visit http://www.mpiweb.org/joinmpi to learn more.

U.S. workers who are engaged in their work have healthier lifestyles compared to those who are not engaged or actively disengaged, according to a recent Gallup poll. 

"Engaged employees are deeply involved in and enthusiastic about their work," said Daniela Yu and Jim Harter, who wrote the report. "Those who are not engaged may be satisfied, but are not emotionally connected to their workplaces and are less likely to put in discretionary effort. Employees who are actively disengaged are emotionally disconnected from their work and workplace and jeopardize their teams' performance."

Past Gallup studies have show that how a leader manages workers can affect employee engagement, which affects the bottom line and employees' health. Furthermore, Gallup research shows that engaged employees are 21 percent more likely than disengaged workers to join company wellness programs.

"Taken together, the data showcase the link between being engaged at work and leading a healthy lifestyle," Yu and Harter said. "It is not clear though which way the relationship between engagement in the workplace and healthy behaviors goes. It is possible that workers without healthy lifestyles are more prone to illness, which then reduces their chance for being engaged at work, or that those who are actively disengaged are less likely to take part in healthy behaviors, perhaps due to time or a depressed outlook on life.

"Regardless, since engaged employees are more likely to lead a healthy lifestyle, workplaces that actively improve engagement may end up seeing an added benefit of better employee health—the potential benefits of which include reducing healthcare costs for a company in the long term and increasing energy and productivity in the near future."

To learn how you can help create a more engaged workplace environment, please read "The Art of Real Recognition" from the October issue of One+. And please let us know in the comments how you either keep engaged in your job or how you help your employees stay engaged.

The National Conference Center recently released news about the value of employee recognition, training and development and developing credible leadership.

“For every employer, being ‘engaged’ could translate into any number of different things,” said National Conference Center General Manager Kurt Krause. “When we analyzed our top accounts at The National Conference Center, we saw a trend in training and development—78 percent of the programs from our top 30 accounts focus on training.”

The organization offers three building blocks of an engaged workforce.

Employee recognition—According to Fred Lang, a former chief learning officer for the U.S. Department of Commerce, “Valuing [an employee’s] skills and talents is one of the greatest retention tools.” Employees receive a confidence boost from in-person coaching that enables them to improve their skills and develop new ones. When managers recognize skills that employees aren’t utilizing, training can be offered to improve and develop those skills that boost employee engagement and, as a result, can increase company financial performance.

Training and development—On-going training throughout an individual’s career provides them with the tools they need to succeed. Margie Kersten, a learning leader at Ernst & Young, says one long-term company benefit is that participants who receive training feel more connected to co-workers who are also in training. As a result, they are more engaged in their work, invested in the company and much more likely to stay. 

Credible leadership—What makes a leader credible? Someone who is trained on business policies, ethics and has the skills to lead the organization to success. Every senior-level executive needs the skills and leadership abilities to be an effective manager, and in turn, ensure satisfied and engaged employees. While identifying future leaders within the organization is an important practice Lang believes in, he explains that you cannot identify people for high-level leadership positions and expect them to automatically possess the skills and leadership abilities required of them. Lang insists, “You have to start lower. Leaders are leaders, but some of the leadership skills can be learned from other organizations that do it well.”

How are you creating an engaged workforce at your business? Please let us know in the comments.

(Story materials from the National Conference Center.)

Three minutes and 59.4 seconds.

That was the time history tells us was set by U.K. runner Roger Bannister on May 6, 1954, when he broke the four-minute mile barrier for the first time. 

To running aficionados like myself, Bannister is a household name—much like Pele is to soccer fans and Tiger Woods to a fan of the links.

Bannister, though, was just one of the men that broke the record that day. Unlike history’s version, a true fan of running sees that the record was broken because of the efforts of three men on the track that day—Chris Chataway, Chris Brasher and Bannister. Bannister gets the credit in the history books simply because he crossed the finish line first, but he was able to do it because of the team of three. The other two men provided his pacing—an innovative approach to running at the time, and an idea sparked by Bannister himself. (Watch the race in full and listen as Bannister tells the story at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWqwi6FcyH8.)

He had tried repeatedly to break the four-minute barrier—something that everyone had said was humanly impossible—but realized that his approach was bordering on insanity. In his many attempts, he was, in fact, “doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.” (Albert Einstein)

So Bannister developed a strategy that would prove the skeptics wrong, but in the process he made all three men better runners and changed the face of running for millions of others. The mark of a leader?

It depends on your definition of leader, but very simply defined, a leader is someone who helps others be their best, so based on that, wouldn’t Bannister be considered a leader? Wouldn’t we all?

There is a leader in all of us, says Doug Keeley, the CEO and chief storyteller at Mark of a Leader, something of which most of us tend to lose sight.

“Leadership is everybody’s responsibility,” Keeley told an assembly of more than 600 meeting professionals at MPI’s education session "Stories of Great Leadership in Times of Challenge and Change" at EIBTM in Barcelona, Spain. “A leader can be someone with hierarchy, sure—a queen, president or CEO—but that’s a very limited view. It’s not a very dynamic way of looking at leadership. We are all leaders. Too often we associate the term 'leader,' as someone at the 'top of the food chain' without realizing the potential in each of us to affect change and to improve those around us. And isn’t that the true definition of leadership?”

Keeley breaks down leadership into a simple five-step process.

“When all five levels are engaged, we as human beings can do anything we set our minds to,” Keeley said. “The first is our spirit, then our right brain (or imagination), then the left brain (or logic), then our heart (or passion) and finally, our hands.”

The lesson from Bannister’s story, Keeley says, is also that he knew change needed to happen in order to be successful and he affected that change directly.

Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said ‘a faster horse.’”

Just like Bannister, Ford saw the opportunity to change that no one else at the time saw—he evolved his business and affected change in the world. Jack Welch took over General Electric in the mid-1990s and did the same thing—he said, “If we can’t be No. 1 or No. 2 in an industry, we’re just going to stop doing it.”

In all of these examples, it took courage to take a close look at the situation and realize it was change or watch the competition breeze on by, says Alan Elston, master storyteller at Mark of a Leader.

“Just as in the case of Roger Bannister (and it’s also true with Ford and Welch), the psychological barrier is far more difficult than the actual physical one,” Elston said. “Bannister and his team were very clear about their vision—four minutes and over, we fail; anything under four minutes we win.”

But it was the ability to see the need for change and to make that change reality that allowed Bannister, Ford and Welch to enjoy so much success.

“If you’re not constantly changing, someone else will be, and if you’re still bringing your clients a faster horse, your competitor will be bringing them the automobile,” Keeley said.

Don’t think of change as a daunting task though, Keeley says. Think of it in small doses.

“When you put a lot of incremental change together, you eventually get big change," he said. "There is no secret sauce to change . . . no special gene for leadership. The world has been changed by people like us.”

Five Things You Can do Today to be a Better Leader Tomorrow

1. Start with a great story. Great ideas come to light when people feel comfortable brainstorming, and that comfort level is reached at the point when it’s okay to be vulnerable, Elston says. “Start telling stories and others will follow,” he said. “As a leader you have to be vulnerable if you want your people to be vulnerable.”

2. Find your dirt floor. Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté set out with a vision of a new kind of circus—one with music and imagination rather than the traditional dirt floor and animals. “What’s your dirt floor?” Keeley asks. “What’s the thing that you see as a given before every event? If you got rid of it, it would totally change the world for your business.”

3. How collaborative is your culture? Cirque du Soleil prevents accidents by collaborating after every single show. The meetings happen before the mistakes. Ask everyone for their ideas and remember there is no bad idea.

4. Think simple. Apple found success in thinking differently. When the competition was focused on flashy marketing, Apple focused on simplicity. One of the most powerful gifts we can give our clients is simplicity, Keeley says.

5. Talk about outcomes. So you have a client stuck in their ways, huh? Doesn’t feel comfortable with change? “Start with what the outcomes will be,” Keeley said. “Then paint the picture of what the outcomes will be if you change things subtly.”

NOTE: Keeley’s presentation focuses on different stories of inspirational leadership each time it’s presented. If you missed it at EIBTM, you have another chance to experience Mark of a Leader January 27-29 at MPI’s European Meeting and Event Conference in Montreux, Switzerland. Register here: http://www.mpiweb.org/Events/EMEC2013/register.

Recommended Reading

"Lead With Your Heart, Not Just Your Head"—Harvard Business Review

Want to be more socially and environmentally responsible? We'll be coming out with a new tool kit soon. In the meantime, appoint a couple more women to your board. New research shows that the number of female board members correlates with sustainability performance. The more women, the more sustainable, says corporate responsibility consultant Kellie McElhaney, who recently criticized Apple’s appointment of another man to an already all-male executive team. 

McElhaney’s new research goes one step further. Companies with one or more women on their boards are significantly more likely to have improved sustainability practices. 

“This is not a women’s or men’s issue, it’s a collective and business opportunity,” says McElhaney who is also faculty director for the Center for Responsible Business at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. The study, “Women Create A Sustainable Future,” was sponsored by Women Corporate Directors and KPMG—which shouldn't be a surprise seeing as how the company has already steeped its business in social responsibility (case study). 

“We also found, like researchers before us, that the sweet spot is three. Companies with at least three female board members had a better ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance, but we’re talking about very few companies who meet this threshold—just three of the 1,500 we studied—Kimberly-Clark, General Motors and Walmart."

McElhaney interviewed several female directors to learn more about their personal experiences on a board. “Women and sustainability are two sides of the same coin. Corporations build better societies if they have balanced boards,” says interviewee Halla Tomadottir, executive chairwoman and co-founder of Audur Capital. 

The study’s authors also spoke with former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, who serves on the board at Nestle. “The voices of women are critical in advancing the goals of corporate shared value,” says Veneman in the study. Other female directors told McElhaney that they evaluate invitations to sit on boards based on the organizations’ ESG factors. 

Dina Dublon, former executive vice president and chief financial officer of JP Morgan Chase, is a director at PepsiCo, Accenture and Microsoft. “There is an element of self-selection for me,” she says. “I choose to serve on boards who have openness to ESG issues because I care deeply about these issues.” 

McElhaney points out that “causality” remains problematic. “Is a company that’s not managing risk like ESG going to realize that it’s a risk not to have more women in senior leadership. Which happens first, adding more women to a board or improving sustainability initiatives?”

Character strengths can be defined as morally positively valued attributes, such as self-control, teamwork and friendliness. Strengths that are peculiar to a person and frequently used by individuals are called signature strengths. Each person typically has three to seven. For the first time, Claudia Harzer and Willibald Ruch from the Department of Personality Psychology and Diagnostics at the University of Zurich have shown in two studies that a job is particularly valued if it aligns with one's signature strengths. In fact, employees will have a more positive work experience due to enjoyment, sense of purpose and satisfaction.

In the first study, Harzer and Ruch surveyed more than 1,000 workers about the expression of their character strengths, whether they are able to apply these strengths at work and how positively they experience their work. In their second study, besides self-assessments the scientists also analyzed how the test subjects' colleagues rate the applicability of the character strengths.

The degree of positive experiences increases with the number of signature strengths applied. In both studies, people who are able to apply four or more signature strengths at work have the highest values in terms of positive experience. They enjoy work more, are more wrapped up in it, perceive their work as more meaningful and are more satisfied with their job. These people also perceive their work more as a calling than people who are able to apply three signature strengths or fewer in the workplace.

The researcher's findings provide insights that might be useful for the selection of personnel, human resources development and workplace design.

"If it is clarified which character strengths are central for the job before a position is filled, a person can be recruited based on these strengths," Harzer said. "Employers and employees only stand to benefit from this.

(Story materials via the University of Zurich and AlphaGalileo.)

Mike Maddock will show you how to manage the healthy and essential tension between the divergent and convergent thinkers on your team during his general session on Thursday, Oct. 11 (8:45 - 9:45 p.m./08.45 - 9.45), at IMEX America.

We recently contacted him to learn more about his session and what you can expect to take away from it.

One+: What mistakes do most professionals make when approaching problem-solving?
Mike Maddock: People often turn to the wrong types of experts when solving problems. I love the quote, "I don't know who discovered water, but I am pretty sure it wasn't a fish." Most professionals try to solve challenges with really smart people from within their industry. Unfortunately, seasoned, industry veterans are too often experts at what isn't possible. Like water to a fish, they have grown unaware of the amazing possibility all around them.

Industry experts also often overlook the changing needs of the market. This is because past experience or antiquated business models push them to support the wrong kinds of ideas. For example, dentists aggressively objected to teeth whitening products because they didn't promote "gum health." Meanwhile, consumers wanted white teeth and didn't care about their gums. Turns out, four out of five dentists were wrong.

The lesson? Make sure to tap experts from outside your industry when trying to generate break-through ideas. I'll show you how in my presentation.

One+: What are some easy ways to encourage a more innovative culture within an organization?
MM: Walt Disney need Roy Disney, and Steve Wozniak needed Steve Jobs. The best companies strive to find a balance between their Idea Monkeys and Ringleaders. Balancing the highly creative idea people with the focused operators will create a culture that knows how to focus, fail forward and celebrate big ideas.

One+: What are the main takeaways people should be able to get from going to your session?
MM: How to be more objective so you can see a big idea that is right in front of you. How to find a yin for your innovation yang. How to balance an innovation portfolio. What's the most important talent for your and your kids to have if you want to be innovative–and how to get it.

Mike Maddock's general session is sponsored by Travel Alberta.

Jeff Salz will be the keynote speaker on Tuesday, Oct. 9 (8:45 - 9:45 a.m./08.45 - 09.45) at IMEX America, and he will talk about lessons that have been adopted by some of today's most successful teams and organizations.

We contacted Salz to learn more about his presentation and why you should attend it. 

One+: How do organizations and leaders overcome the fear of change and the unknown?
Jeff Salz: The recognition and acceptance of change as an inevitability in both life and work is the core of every change management program. But what makes an organization (or leader) truly successful is the intentional cultivation of an attitude of adventure.

To twist Jack Welch's words inside out: if the pace of change inside an organization exceeds the pace of change outside… you win. This is the true meaning of "creating a culture of adventure."

One+: What are the key takeaways for attendees of your presentation?
JS: Attendees will be introduced to the Six Steps of Adventure. While once the exclusive domain of explorers and expedition guides, today all of us need the leadership skills required to navigate uncharted waters and successfully traverse vast stretches of un-mapped "terra incognita." The Six Steps—if understood and applied—are the tool kit for certain success in these troubled and uncertain times.

One+: What makes an organization’s culture authentic?
JS: When I speak of an authentic culture, I am referring to an optimally effective work environment in which individuals collaborate around their highest vision and most aspirational selves maximizing empathy and thus minimizing entropy. Authentic organizations are by definition nimble, innovative and enthusiastic. Politics and infighting are minimal while collaboration and genuine affection are the norm. I have experienced this kind of community exist at times in such organizations as Microsoft, Google, Disney, Wal-Mart and eBay and seen how it cannot help but lead to creativity and organizational vitality. The key is to create a culture align around the principle of the Highest Common Denominator™. The challenge is how to maintain it!

Curious to know more? Check out his recent webinar, The Adventure of Change.

Jeff Salz' general session is sponsored by the Philadelphia CVB.

Debra Benton will be the keynote speaker on Smart Monday, Oct. 8 (8:30 - 10 a.m./08.30 - 10.00) at IMEX America, and she will dissect and decode the traits and nuances needed to elevate your presence in the world where you want to be—your authentic self.

We contacted Benton to learn more about her presentation and why you should attend it. 

One+: How do you keep a positive attitude when times are tough?
Debra Benton: Really, what is one's alternative: A bad attitude makes bad things worse; a good attitude makes bad things a little better. Personally I review my year and I ask myself, "So how many bad days did you have in 2012?" If I'm honest with myself it's maybe 2 or 3. So I decide that isn't too bad and say it's okay to add one more at this time. Then I try to make things change. First by telling myself, "Things are better, things are good, etc." 

I might stretch the truth to myself, but it's better than stretching the truth as to how bad things are either. Then I repeat mantra-like "things are good/better" and honestly, in a short amount of time they do get better.

One+: What leadership styles are most effective in today’s business world?
DB: You are a leader today if you 1)excel in achieving your own mission, and 2) affect others in a way so they achieve their mission.

It is not a solo/star act that makes you successful, it's your affect on others. Leaders are made by being pulled up from above as well as pushed up from below. There is not room or tolerance for autocratic/my way or the highway.

One+: What are the key takeaways for attendees of your presentation?
DB: The audience will have specific tools and techniques to be more memorable, impressive, credible, genuine, trusted, comfortable, competent and confident—in how they think, act and interact with people. They will know what it is to stand out and yet fit in.

Want to know more? Check out her recent sneak peak video and webinar.

Monday's general session is sponsored by Loews Hotels.