8 traits that will make you a better leader

We are in the age of leadership, and it is not easy to be an excellent leader. Leadership doesn't mean to be the boss, it means to achieve goals, initiate and develop a movement and gain transcendence through the effort of a team. Through the years, I have learned from my mistakes and I would like to share some traits that will help you to become a better leader:

1) Be human. Make your team laugh (or cry, depending on the situation...), but don't make them cold and indifferent. I've found that my teams are more creative when we are willing to enjoy and to have fun with the work we are doing.

2) Think always in your client. In business, and I would say in all human endeavors, you have to think like your clients (client in a broader sense can be even your wife!). At the end, you want to create a movement, a change of behavior, a transformation, and thinking only in yourself will not help to achieve that.

3) Recognize the contributions and merits of everyone. Nothing is more pleasant that the praise of someone, and we tend to give us the merit. Remember in such moment of glory, who helped you to achieve it. Give credit, give praise, pamper your team for its big effort. You will feel even better.

4) Lead by the example. Be creative, be bold, behave in the way you want your team should behave. It will be difficult to have a maverick team is you are a turtle. They are eager to replicate you, so make your best effort to transmit your energy clear and loud. Be ethic, be personal, be human and they will be like you.

5) Listen more than talking. As an old saying states, "we have two ears and one mouth, so we should be more able to listen than to speak". But we love to listen to ourselves, we are so in love with our voice that we tend to speak and speak. Take time to listen, take time to comprehend what your team is sharing, and what your client wants. It will help you a lot!

6) Learn everyday, and share your lessons learned. If you think you know everything that is needed, may be you are already dead. Search for new things and new ways of doing your work. Share such new knowledge with your troops. They will appreciate it and they will know better what you want to achieve. And a plus: sharing will let you to reinforce what you have just learnt.

7) Take time to think and strategize. Your time is all crowded with meetings and work, but you need some time alone to think and strategize. I like to do that first thing in the morning sipping a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Find your way to look for that time alone, and take a notepad (or iPad, iPhone, napkin, something!) to capture your ideas. Don't let them fly into the air even if they look crazy at a first sight.

8) Take time to mentor people. Your team loves feedback and they want to hear directly from the source: you. Take time to mentor people. I like to do that in a different environment (may be at lunch time, in a quiet restaurant). Share the good and the bad, share anecdotes, be vulnerable and share your mistakes and how you recovered from them. He/she will work better because you both understand better each other at a human level.

5 points for a successful S&OP implementation

During the implementation of one of the most famous cross-functional process in different companies, we have learned from the experience several aspects that will make the transition easier for the company. Such 5 points are:

1) Start with the "S".
Tipically, a S&OP project is initiated by the Supply Chain function in the company and it makes it to be interpreted as another "supply chain project". However, the initiative will not success unless we start designing the Sales part of the planning, from the Commercial Planning to the Demand Planning. This part tends to be overlooked by the project, and indeed, it is the most important part: to achieve that Sales buys the project and be accountable for its contribution and responsibilities in it.

2) Start simple, then build up maturity.
We tend to push the whole capability (process, technology, organization) from the start. However, I have found that, in most of the cases, there is a problem of business readiness that we have to solve. So, better start simple, exercise the process, build the organization and then put technology in place. When ready, build up maturity with more advanced process and technologies and training the talent accordingly.

3) Design your S&OP with a 20-20-60 view.
What does it mean? Design the S&OP meetings and other S&OP interactions in order to cover in time: 20% past (lagging KPIs and results), 20% present (solve current issues) and 60% future (leading KPIs and what-if scenarios). The S&OP is a great process to start exercising views of "what will happen" instead of explaining "what happened". There are other meetings in the company with that objective.

4) Don´t try to boil the ocean.
It is difficult to solve all demand and supply issues in one meeting. The S&OP is not a meeting, is a process that has specific activities and deliverables every single day of the month. Try to bring to the meeting only the issues that need to be solved, and do not try to revise all SKUs in every single point of your network. Focus in KPIs and expected results, new product introductions, and the most important aspect, in how to serve better the clients at the right cost to serve, delivering or exceeding the expected profitability.

5) Connect intimately planning with execution.
A plan without the right execution is useless. Guarantee that the execution process (sales execution, manufacturing, distribution, transportation, etc) are aligned to deliver the plan. Also, that any variation between plan and execution is recorded, analyzed and fedback to the planning process. If not, the plan accuraccy will not improve, and the expected benefits for the process will not come.