The Company Leaders Keep

What kind of company do you keep as a Leader?
Attempting to be consistent with the suggestion in my last post — Leaders vs. Summer — I challenged myself to read Cicero’s “On a Life Well Spent” over the course of the summer. Trust me, other than the Bible, I’m not given to reading 2,000 year-old texts regularly.
This morning, I came across this ending to a chapter in which Cicero describes Quintus Maximus, a friend and Leader he greatly admired:
“. . . when he was taken from us, I should never find another Man to improve by.”
Who’s in your life, walking alongside you as a Leader, who, when they are gone, will be a great loss?
The best Leaders I know don’t lead in isolation. They surround themselves with a few good friends. Friends who inspire them to be better, genuinely care for them, and with whom they can be vulnerable.
Interestingly, I think this can be particularly difficult for men. Women more naturally cultivate supportive friendships.
So, what does this look like? In my life, I have my wife and about a half dozen men who’s counsel I seek regularly. Here’s how I would describe them.

Fathers of Leaders

Tuesday morning’s Wall Street Journal (May 27) contained something you don’t see every day.
Front page of Section A: Anheuser CEO Fights for His Legacy . . . Busch Heir Still Seeks Father’s Approval
Here are some interesting comments August Busch IV was quoted making about his father, August Busch III, who he succeeded as Anheuser’s CEO —
* “I never, ever had a father-son relationship . . . . it’s purely business.”
* “His love and respect will be when I’m ultimately successful.”
* “I honestly do believe if I failed in my professional life, it would be much harder to ever gain his respect.”

Frustrated Leaders

A CEO frustrated with his board. A Board frustrated with its CEO. A Partner frustrated with his partner. A Partner frustrated with HIS partner. A CEO frustrated with her COO. A COO frustrated with his CEO. Boy, I run across these scenarios too often. I use the word “frustrated” because it represents the middle ground […]

Teams and Trust

I’ve met with the executive teams of two CEOs in the past two weeks – CEOs being intentional about enhancing their teams’ effectiveness. Excellent teams don’t form by chance.
It may be time to evaluate your leadership team. Challenging times call for a gut-check on who’s in the foxhole with us. What grade would you give your team?
If you give them an “A” or better – what would you identify as the #1 ingredient? Conversely, if it’s “C” or lower, what would be the #1 cause? How many of us are tolerating ‘average?’

What Certain Leaders Do in Uncertain Times

Uncertain times?
Let’s see . . a stock market that no one can forecast . . . a presidential race completely up for grabs . . . and a 31 year-old trader who just cost his company $7.2 billion.
What a great time for Leaders to step up.
I read a great story last week about one Leader whose company is thriving amidst a crisis that has tanked most of the rest of his industry.

When Leaders Commit to Personal Learning

“Change before you have to.” — Jack Welch
How are you focused on changing and growing as a Leader over the next six months?
Top Five reasons to NOT be a Learning Leader in the coming months (pick yours):
__ “I have no time to focus on this.”
__ “Nothing comes to mind that I really need to learn.”
__ “I want to grow, but I don’t like to read business books and don’t know of any other resources.”
__ “This is great to think about the first week in January, but the demands of my job will overwhelm me by next week.”
__ “I don’t really need to learn anything new; instead, I need to be teaching my direct reports how to improve as leaders.”

Effective Leaders Cultivate Simplicity

I’m learning that effective leaders cultivate simplicity. Simplicity begets . . . Clarity begets . . . Focus begets . . . ACTION! When I first begin working with Leaders, here’s a sampling of questions we discuss: How clear are you on what your organization most needs from you as Leader today? How succinctly could […]

When Leaders Fudge Because They're Afraid

This past Spring I noticed a rash of reports (in less than one week!) about current and future leaders of all ages caught lying.
* April 27th ”The Dean of Admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was forced to resign after the school confirmed . . . that she had lied about graduating from college herself.” Marilee Jones is 55. (The Wall Street Journal)
* May 2nd Fifteen freshmen Air Force Academy cadets were expelled in a cheating scandal. The cadets “either confessed or were found guilty by an honor board of sharing answers to a test . . . .” (Louisville Courier-Journal) Assume their average age was 19.
* May 2nd (This right below the Academy cheating article . . . .) Duke University is threatening to expel or suspend 24 of 34 graduate students caught in “the largest cheating scandal ever in its Fuqua School of Business . . . . Similar answers to a take-home test led to an investigation of the final exam and other assignments . . . . The average age of students in the first-year class is 29.” (Louisville Courier-Journal)

Leaders Have Weaknesses with Their Strengths

I’m learning that Leaders have weaknesses with their strengths.
Specifically, I’ve recently observed that . . .
1. Leaders have difficulty naming their unique strengths. Leaders tend to be good at a lot of things. But in talks with Leaders I work with, they are often fuzzy on the one-of-a-kind abilities they bring to their companies . . . the abilities they have that no one else does. Without clarity on these strengths, a Leader can miss opportunities for their most powerful contributions.