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Here's my pick of the five best posts from this week's business blogs. I'm pointing you to posts on women in leadership positions, male and female brains, loyalty, servant leadership and lessons from the garden.

From the Wall Street Journal: Before They Float Away: Keeping Women in Management
"Currently, the number of female CEOs at Fortune 500 companies is 13. Moreover, according to Catalyst, a nonprofit which aims to expand opportunities for women and business, women make up just 9.4% of the highest titles in corporations and only 6.4% of the top earners. Less than one-fifth of corporate officers in the 500 largest U.S. companies are female, despite advances in education and better representation than men in the lower reaches of management."

Wally's Comment: The title of this post is a bit silly and esoteric, but the issue it addresses is serious. The issue is not so much about "women in management" as it is that we need every brain we can get in the game and we are doing a pretty awful job of that when the brains are attached to female bodies.

From Tom Peters: M-F Leadership Styles, Effectiveness of
"In my last post, Success Tip #140, I caught myself in an un-rare but un-intentional sexist moment. While discussing crisis leadership, I used typically male language and imagery—including the all-male football analogy!"

Wally's Comment: You won't find many Tom Peters posts here because I think most of them are rants for the acolytes instead of the thoughtful and powerful stuff he can come up with. But I check his blog every day for the times that remind me why I think Tom Peters still has a lot to say. This is the kind of post I hope to find every time. Compare it to the Journal post above.

From Nina Simosko: Lessons in Loyalty
"Approximately 25% of employees do not feel loyal to their current employer and 20% say they are likely to leave their current position to change jobs within a year, according to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey of HR professionals and hiring managers. Although I am not completely surprised by these figures, the percentages are nonetheless disturbing and warrant our attention. Ongoing recruitment, training and retention are costly endeavors on multiple fronts. Disengaged employees erode retention, productivity and profitability. Moreover, as with one bad apple, their attitudes tend to be infectious, spreading negativity to fellow employees, thereby further exacerbating the problem and escalating the overall damage. Far too many employees live in a state of comfortable misery and something must be done about this pervasive issue."

Wally's Comment: I think the numbers in surveys like this one are purely bogus and lamentably unscientific. But Nina has zeroed in on the issue of people who don't want to go to work, don't want to give any of themselves at work, and think their bosses really don't have a clue.

From Phil Gerbyshak at Slacker Manager: How to be a Servant Leader
"If you’re a leader, you need to be a servant leader. You need to put others needs in front of yours or you can’t lead them."

Wally's Comment: Forget Level Five Leadership and all the mumbo-jumbo about "humility." This is a great description of leadership that's not ego-centric. If you have a problem with the language of "servant" leadership, forget that, too. But don't mistake this for soft, New-Agey silliness. This is tested. Stripped of the jargon it's what legendary organizations like Toyota and the US Marines understand as leadership.

From the Simplest Thing that Works: Gardening Again
"It's time for another gardening post (I can only go so long without creating planting metaphors, I've found)."

Wally's Comment: Some posts are worth a quick read. Others should be studied. Some should be savored. Savor this one.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.

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Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.

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For weekly tips and resources pointers, check our Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Letter.

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