Two Questions about Your Leadership

Good morning! I hope you enjoyed the holidays and are off to a strong start in 2019. Two items this morning – one a challenge in two questions, the second a book you must read. – – – – – – – – – – I want to challenge you with two questions I have […]

SWOT Yourself.

Racing, racing, racing. Push it to the limit. Racing. Quick pit stop. And then, racing again. As I think about many of the leaders I know, racing characterizes the last few weeks of December and first week of January. Racing to close deals. Racing to finish projects or annual reviews (ha!). Racing to get the […]

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.

Leaders vs. Summer

A new leadership tool is at hand this week. It’s summertime.
Despite the demands of this challenging economy, things are just different. There’s less traffic on the road in the mornings. Less people in the office because of vacations. Everyone knows you have to get major deals closed by mid-July because key decision-makers will be hard to assemble until after Labor Day. Inevitably there’s more recreation and leisure in your schedule.
All this presents Leaders with opportunities to “shift with the season” — to experiment, create, learn, reboot. And when Labor Day gets here (80 days and counting), you can decide to stop or continue. Will you take advantage of it?

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?’

When and Where Leaders Listen

There’s an article titled “Uncovering the Blind Spot of Leadership” in the latest issue of Leader to Leader magazine. Author C. Otto Scharmer writes about four different modes of listening for Leaders. I’ve provided excerpts below.
Those of you who have heard me speak know that I often frame the Leader in four dimensions – Physical, Intellectual, Emotional and Spiritual. Along with Scharmer’s thoughts, I have added my own in the context of which dimensions a Leader listens from . . . .
Think about conversations you’ve already had today.