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Pay Attention to the Big Rocks

On my early morning walk, I was thinking about the “big rocks” in my life at the moment.

The “big rocks” is a term the late Stephen R. Covey uses to describe our most important values and goals. We don’t prioritize our schedule, but rather, schedule our priorities: the big rocks.

We can be distracted by the little pebbles that call for our attention daily: the social media ping, the robocall, checking sports scores, etc. Soon we find that the pebbles have filled our day and we have no energy left to tackle the big rocks.

So, we start with the big rocks first.

I’ve discovered that our big rocks can change depending on the season of our life. Right now, my big rocks are my calling in life and how I envision it unfolding in the future; nurturing my relationships that are blooming; my adventure plans for the next 6 months; and my continued growth and development as a writer. The rest are pebbles that I may or may not get to by the end of the day. If I don’t, it’s okay because I have paid attention to what is most important.

I’ve also discovered that some of the big rocks are more important than others. I value my relationship with myself, God, and others. My Christian faith guides me to love God with all of my being and to love my neighbor as I love myself. Those are the rocks that I spend the most time and energy polishing. The essence of any growing relationship is being one of the other person’s big rocks. Relationships die when they are no longer big rocks.  

Summer is a great time to evaluate where we are spending our time and energy.

What are your big rocks?

What are the pebbles that you are giving your one and only life to?

Getting clear on the big rocks results in a life well-lived and full of joy.

You can see Stephen Covey’s classic illustration of the big rocks concept here: https://resources.franklincovey.com/the-8th-habit/big-rocks-stephen-r-covey

Photo by Tina Nord from Pexels

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One of My Costliest Leadership Mistakes

There is an exception to every rule. We think we are it. Or at least I did.

For years I heard the adage, “Never hire family or friends.” Sounds like a good rule. But I didn’t really believe it. Until I broke it.

I was pastor of a church trying to attract new people. We were reaching younger adults and wanted to take it to the next level by starting a new worship service that would serve their specific needs. I recruited several people from the congregation to help. Enthusiasm built and soon the new service was accomplishing its purpose. One of the guys I recruited to help, who I will call Sam, was all in from the beginning. He went the second mile to help and made sure we had what we needed. It was a successful launch. Sam and I became fast friends and I enjoyed spending time with him. We seemed to have a lot in common. I liked working with him on the service.

Soon after, I was chosen to lead a different congregation in a different city. It was a similar situation with church leaders who wanted to expand and try new things. A new service was planned. I thought, “who better to help here than Sam?” Can you see where this is going?

Sam and his wife moved and was hired part-time at the church to help get the service off the ground. That’s when the dynamic changed. Sam went from volunteer and friend to co-worker and supervisee. Sam soon lost his motivation for the service. I found myself having to remind him of deadlines. I had to prod to meet goals we had set. I saw his attitude change. I called in all of my “friendship chips” to get him to perform. None of it worked.

Over the years, I discovered that non-profit leadership requires a little more finesse than for-profit leadership. There is more “leverage” in a for-profit company because you can let an employee go who doesn’t match the company’s needs. How do you let a friend and church member go without doing damage? It can be very complicated as roles clash.

Sam was feeling the need to try other things at other churches. So, we had what author Henry Cloud calls a “necessary ending.” Sam went his way and I went mine, but not on good terms.

Here’s what it cost:

  • My friendship with Sam. We never spoke again.
  • Leadership credibility with the church who trusted me to make a wise hiring decision.
  • The church lost thousands of dollars and 2 years of time when Sam’s departure put us back to square one.

Here’s what I gained:

  • A new appreciation for the complexities of hiring staff. I heard Hall of Fame, Super Bowl winning and NASCAR owner Joe Gibbs say that recruiting and hiring is one of his toughest jobs because even with all of the pre-hiring testing and interviews, you never know what you are getting until the person performs.
  • Grace from church leaders. They forgive my mistake and I was able to build trust again. We hired a new person with a different skill set. The service we started is still going strong.

Yes, it cost me as a leader. But it also sharpened my hiring skills just a little bit. In the future, I will make wiser hiring choices.

I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences!

What have you learned from hiring mistakes or others as a leader?

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Delegation without Guilt

This is a guest post by leadership author and expert, Mark Miller. I hope you enjoy Mark’s insights and pick up a copy of his latest book, Leaders Made Here.  This post was originally published on http://www.greatleadersserve.com.

I want to directly address a question I believe many leaders have struggled with: How do I delegate without guilt?

What is delegation? That seems like a great place to start. Is it dumping work on someone you manage? Is it strategically getting work assigned to the best possible person? Is it a convenient way to avoid unpleasant tasks? Is it a way to help people grow? The truth is, it can be any of the above.

Before I go any further, you’ll have to decide what YOU believe about delegation. However, I’m going to assume you are a servant leader – or are striving to become one. Therefore, I would suggest you can minimize or even eliminate any angst you may have about delegating if you clarify your point-of-view. Here’s how I try to think about delegation.

Delegation helps people grow – if done properly. Delegation should never be a dump and run proposition. The outcomes need to be clearly stated, the boundaries established and milestones identified. Most of what you and I know about leadership we learned when someone delegated real responsibility and we grew in the process.

Next, if done thoughtfully, delegation can leverage a person’s talents, strengths and passions. There are clearly things you and I don’t like to do. However, there are men and women who LOVE to do those same activities. I know it seems strange on the surface, but it’s true. So, when I find myself faced with something I really don’t enjoy doing, one of my questions is, “Who would love to do this?” Thankfully, we’re not all the same.

Another reason we should be able to delegate guilt-free is the space it creates for us to do what we’re uniquely qualified, gifted and compensated to do. Assuming we use our time wisely, appropriate delegation multiplies our time and our effectiveness. We will have more time to do what we are supposed to do.

Finally, assigning work to the most appropriate individual or team is a stewardship issue. Generally, you are paid more than the people you lead. Therefore, if work can be done by someone at a lower hourly wage, that is good stewardship.

I’ll close by saying effective delegation is a HUGE hurdle for many leaders. More than that, failure to delegate well will derail your career. You must figure out how to delegate before you can move to the highest form of getting work done – when you see your role not as a delegator but a developer. If you’re interested in learning more, I wrote about this transition in a post entitled, Is Your Leadership Career Stalled?

For now, clarify what you believe about delegation and do it well. It is an essential stepping stone to becoming a great leader!

*****

Mark Miller is the best-selling author of 6 books, an in-demand speaker and the Vice President of High-Performance Leadership at Chick-fil-A. His latest book, Leaders Made Here, describes how to nurture leaders throughout the organization, from the front lines to the executive ranks and outlines a clear and replicable approach to creating the leadership bench every organization needs.

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A Little Book with Big Ideas

Chess Not CheckersA review of Mark Miller’s book, Chess Not Checkers: Elevate Your Leadership Game

I have been a fan of Mark Miller’s ever since I heard him speak at a workshop many years ago in Florida. When I first heard him, I wished that his insightful content was available in book form. I heard him speak again several years later and was delighted to hear him say he was working on a book. That was five books ago. Each of his books has hit home with me and helped me grow as a leader. His latest offering, Chess Not Checkers: Elevate Your Leadership Game is no exception.

This book continues the fable style that is popular among business authors today. We ride along on Blake’s (a character from previous books) leadership journey as he accelerates his pace as a leader by taking over as the CEO of a small company. Blake soon finds that leadership at this level is more complex than it was in previous roles. The rest of the book describes four moves leaders need to make in order to up their leadership game. I won’t regurgitate the content here. There are other reviews that do that and I encourage you to pick up a copy of the book for yourself. It’s an easy read but has powerful principles that have big impact on how we lead.

Here is how the book impacted my leadership development:

  1. I will plan my departure from the organization my first day at the organization.

As a leader, one of my main jobs is to identify and invest in other leaders. The question that I ask myself is, “What do I want the leadership bench to look like when I leave?” If I have a hard time identifying leaders from day one, I have my work cut out for me. If I can identify a few key people with leadership potential, I can then devise ways of helping them tap into and refine their leadership skills. One principle in the book is, “Bet on Leadership.” For me, that means I need to invest in leadership by talking about leadership and offering resources to help people grow as leaders so that the day I leave the organization, another leader can easily step up and take the group where it needs to go.

  1. I will focus on WE not ME.

We are weary of hearing about selfish CEOs who command multi-million dollar contracts and ride around in corporate jets. It’s easy to get caught up in the perks and power of leadership and forget about the teams we are leading. Leadership is not about us. It’s about the people we lead. Our role is to serve the people under our care. Too often we have seen walls that are built between the leader and the team. In the book, the principle that counteracts this tendency is, “Act as One.” The people we lead need to see and believe that we are on the same side as them. As with most other things, it comes down to what we do rather than what we say. We’re all pulling on the same side of the rope.

  1. I will be humble enough to find a mentor who can help me at this stage of my growth.

The great thing about leadership is that we are never fully formed. There is always room to grow. In the book, Blake gets a new mentor who helps him in his current situation. I’ve found it a matter of Providence that the right mentors come into my life at the right time. There are mentors whom I no longer need because I have learned and gleaned all I possibly could from them at that stage. As my leadership growth needs change, so does my need for specific mentors. We can never believe that we have arrived as leaders, but instead are asking, “Who can I learn from at this stage of my growth?”

Chess Not Checkers: Elevate Your Leadership Game challenged me and I will be using it as a resource for many years to come both for myself and for those I lead. I am going to be sharing this book with every person on my leadership team.

promo_01Thank you, Mark for stirring up the potential in those of us whose task it is to continually elevate our leadership game!

 

You can check out a trailer for the book here:

 

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The Danger of Experience

robotSometimes I wish it was still the 1960’s. It was the days of the television show Lost in Space. In this cinematic gem, there was a robot who looked after a young boy named Will. In only one episode, the robot warned Will of impending danger by saying, “Danger, Will Robinson!” The saying caught on and reached catchphrase status uttered to warn someone when they are about to make a mistake or are overlooking something.

As leaders, we need that robot’s warning. Here’s what I mean.

As we grow in our leadership skills, confidence rises. We reach a point where we have experienced a variety of difficult situations. We celebrate the successes while grieving the losses. We become comfortable in our leadership skin. We begin to think we have this leadership thing mastered. That is the point where experience can be dangerous.  At this place, stagnation can set in. We can analyze situations and think to ourselves too quickly, “I know what to do here. This is like the time I…”(insert leadership problem and canned solution here). Cue the robot.

Every organization wants a leader wise enough to handle situations that come up. That’s where the rub comes.

Reality says there are going to be situations that come up that even the most experienced leader has not seen before. Then what? A classic example is how United States leaders responded after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. No one had ever seen anything quite like this before. There was no frame of reference. But soon we began to see true leaders step to the forefront to get our nation back on track.

know the answer

Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Experience and wisdom are not the same things. I have known leaders who have one-year experience, twenty times. They have a hammer and every problem they encounter looks like a nail.

Other leaders I know have little experience but are blessed with “wisdom beyond their years.” That’s the kind of leader we want to lead our organization. We want leaders who can figure it out when they haven’t seen the situation before.

That’s the kind of leader we want to be. Yes, experience matters but it becomes dangerous when we rely on it too much to the exclusion of wisdom. Wisdom wins every time.

I like what Ed Catmull of Pixar says in Creativity, Inc.: “Engaging with exceptionally hard problems forces us to think differently.” If we find ourselves not thinking differently about the problems we encounter, if every problem is a nail, then perhaps we’re not engaging enough in the problem but relying too much on our experience to save us.

Great leaders engage wisdom to help them solve problems and let their experience speak for itself.

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How Leaders are Like Video Game Designers

Image courtesy of Idea go at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Idea go at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It was a case of mistaken identity.

I walked into my local Papa John’s to pick up a carryout pizza. I’m too cheap to pay for delivery and tip the driver. My order was delivered to the counter quickly and I paid. As the well-intentioned young man behind the counter was handing me the receipt he said, “Thank you for your service.” I smiled and nodded, not knowing what he meant. It wasn’t until I got to the car that it dawned on me. He mistook the Dallas Cowboys star logo on my coat sleeve for a United States Air Force star. I live near a United States Air Force base so it is not uncommon to see our service men and women around town. Easy mistake.

I have to admit I felt guilty for getting praise I didn’t earn or deserve. I don’t want to take anything away from the brave men and women who volunteer to serve our country.

I was raised to believe that you strive to do your best because it is the right thing to do. Give your best effort as a matter of pride not as a matter of praise. Applause is something you earn for being exceptional.

Image courtesy of nirots at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of nirots at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I remember going through some old boxes with my father. Years earlier, he served in the United States Marines Corps and the box contained mementos of his military days. He did his basic training at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Several shiny items in the box caught my eye immediately. They were marksmanship qualification badges that he earned while enlisted. He reached the highest rank of expert and was rewarded for his skills.  I don’t recall seeing a medal just for showing up.

As leaders, we have some people on our teams, who think they deserve a medal just for showing up. They have been praised for doing the minimum or taught to believe everyone should get a ribbon. These low expectations work against us.

We fail as leaders when we allow low expectations to continue unchecked.

The art of leadership means finding the delicate balance between high and low expectations for our organization. If our expectations are too low, we can unwittingly impede their progress and allow them to be lazy. Our organization will suffer from mediocrity and our team members will quickly disengage from meaningful contribution.

On the other hand, if our expectations are unrealistically high, our organization will have little to celebrate and team members are in danger of becoming exhausted and discouraged also resulting in disengaged team members.

When our expectations are just right, we see a steady progression of growth in both the organization and the individual team members.

We have that in common with video game designers.  A game designer knows that if you make a game too easy, people are going to get bored and not play. If you make it too hard, people won’t continue to play because they don’t see progress. The key is making each level challenging enough to entice players to stay engaged so they can progress to the next level.

So how do we walk find this fine line?

Image courtesy of anankkml at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of anankkml at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here are a couple ideas:

  • Build relationships with people on your team, so you know what motivates them.
  • Set a baseline of minimum expectations and communicate them regularly.
  • Praise progress rather than low performance.
  • Reward people when they do an excellent job.
  • Find ways to help people step up.

People will rise to the level of our expectations.

What expectations do you have for your team members? Which team members are doing well and which ones are demonstrating an attitude of entitlement for just showing up? How long can you afford to allow low expectations to impede the progress of the team?

I would love to hear your thoughts on how you keep challenging your teams.

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Living the Dream!

Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It has been a long held dream of mine to become a published author. These days it is easier than ever, especially when it comes to self-publishing. I asked self-publishing expert, Catherine Ryan Howard what was a good starting amount of money to set aside to get started in self-publishing. Here is what she said:

1) It’s different for everybody but $1k is a good average for a self-pub budget.
2) Main costs: professional polish (editing), cover design & e-book conversion (optional).
3) Self-publishing = business. Your book = product. That $1k = investment.
4) Investment = risk. If you can lose it, don’t risk it!
My dream to publish is still alive and that dream will become a reality! If you are interested in self-publishing, Catherine’s book, SELF-PRINTED: THE SANE PERSON’S GUIDE TO SELF-PUBLISHING, is a great place to start!!
More about Catherine Ryan Howard:
Catherine Ryan Howard is a writer, self-publisher and caffeine enthusiast from Cork, Ireland. SELF-PRINTED: THE SANE PERSON’S GUIDE TO SELF-PUBLISHING (3rd edition) is out now in paperback and e-book and available from Amazon. Follow the #selfprintedsplash on Twitter today (Friday 24th) and/or visit www.catherineryanhoward.com for chance to win an amazing prize that will get your self-publishing adventure started!
“SELF-PRINTED is my self-publishing bible. It taught me how to format, create and upload my e-books and print-on-demand paperbacks. It showed me practical things such as how to build a website/blog and how to promote my books. More importantly, it taught me how to compete with the professionals. Just look at the results – The Estate Series has sold nearly 100,000 copies and following that I got a traditional book deal with Thomas & Mercer too, so I’m now a hybrid author. Jam-packed full of hints and tips all in one place, I’m always referring back to it. In a word, it’s priceless.” – Mel Sherratt, author of The Estate Series and DS Allie Shenton Series
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Monday Quick Tip ~ No Mo FOMO

Image courtesy of FrameAngel at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of FrameAngel at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. – Lau Tzu, Chinese Philospher

FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out has become a popular phrase that expresses our desire to be engaged with life and what is happening around us or on social media. It sometimes causes people to do stupid stuff. It can sometimes make people feel worse about their lot in life.

As one who tends towards perfectionism, I try to tackle FOMO with a “perfect” plan. The problem is that reality kills perfect plans every time. Perfect plans are an illusion.

As a leader, I want the right people in the right places at the right time, so that my organization hums along with speed and efficiency. But, once again, reality trumps plans. We discover that people are human. They make mistakes. We misjudge their capabilities, setting them up for failure and things come to a screeching halt. All of this failure gives us pause before we start again. We can become so paralyzed that we never get around to starting again.

Funny thing, the longer we wait to start, the further behind we get. Not taking action becomes inefficient. Not taking action means we are missing out.

Today is the day to start. Today is the day to tackle FOMO with a single step. Once we give up our perfect plans, we are free to figure it out as we go. I’ve discovered that the more I think I have it figured out, the more closed I am to suggestions and better ways of doing things.

We all have things we say we are going to start “someday.” What if someday were today?

What project, activity or relationship do you want to take one step towards in order to get momentum started?

It won’t be perfect, but neither will we be missing out on making our unique contribution to the world.

We need you to take that one small step…today.

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Monday Quick Tip ~ Make Peace

Glynn Archer 2Blessed are the peacemakers – Jesus, Matthew 5:9

We don’t have to look far to see the need for peace in our world.  Conflicts are ongoing in several parts of the world at this very moment. As leaders, we feel the conflicts closer to home, among our team members.

I was reminded recently that sometimes our role as a leader means being a peacemaker. I visited the Key West Cemetery where one of the best leaders I’ve ever known is buried.  His name is Glynn Archer, Jr.  He came along at a time in my life when I was still trying to get my head around the responsibilities of leadership.  He was a mentor to me.  He was involved in the local community and was especially helpful in the bringing together of three distinct churches as they merged into one. I watched as he masterfully heard each side’s point of view and distilled each group’s concerns down to the common elements.  Then he built relational bridges between the groups so that they could meet in the middle and work together.  He realized that working together was the only way forward.

It’s tough to be a peacemaker because each side in the conflict thinks they are right. I’ve enjoyed reading Ed Catmull’s fantastic book, Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. Mr. Catmull is the President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation.  He describes one of his early meetings with the late Steve Jobs as they are trying to figure out if they could work together.  Catmull gently asks Jobs how he handles it when people disagreed with him. Jobs replies, “When I don’t see eye to eye with somebody, I just take the time to explain it better, so they understand the way it should be” ( Amazon Kindle, Location 743).

We all share Jobs approach at times.  Everybody else is wrong and we are right…right?

That’s why we need peacemakers. Leaders have to wade in where angels fear to tread and get messy with the conflict.  We risk being yelled at and misunderstood.  We have our motives questioned and are accused of playing favorites.

But when the conflict is resolved, there is nothing like the sweet sound of harmony as team members work together again.  The mission moves forward.

Buck up your courage; be a peacemaking leader.

The world needs you.

And so does your team.

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Monday Quick Tip ~ Get Mad, but Don’t Get Even

Image courtesy of coward_lion/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of coward_lion/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. ~ 12th Century saying

Has another leader ever ticked you off?

I’ll go first.

YES!

It happened recently when I called the leader of another organization to ask for a little favor.  It was small in my mind, at least.

His negative reaction caught me by surprise.  He was unyielding, uncooperative and downright rude in his response. He was unwilling to work with me. I wanted to hang up on him.

I stewed about it and told others on my team what a jerk this leader was and that he was the cause of their inconvenience.  (Not my finest hour.)  I was frustrated for me and my team.  Fortunately, I calmed down and realized why I didn’t tell this leader where to stick it.

I didn’t because, for purely selfish reasons, I may need a bigger favor down the road.  In addition, this leader may need a favor from me down the road and I’ll have the upper hand at that point. (Both terrible reasons.)

But then I had a flash of insight that made sense.  As leaders, there are times when we have to take the high road for the good of our organization.  It is not fun, it’s not our first choice, but nevertheless, it is the road we walk as leaders.  The organization we lead comes first. Life has a way of turning the tables.  Circumstances change.  There may come a day when our two organizations will need to work together.  That time may come after I’m already gone.  I don’t want to be known as the leader who blew up the bridge between the two.

We’d all rather be known as leaders who built rather than destroyed.  So we restrain ourselves and take the high road.  Our nose will thank us… and so will our team.

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Monday Quick Tip ~ Stand for Something

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A new week brings new opportunities to put our leadership values into practice.  Assuming, of course, that we are crystal clear about what we value.

A quote from The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working by Tony Schwartz, Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy that resonates with us is, “A clearly defined sense of purpose ties our values to concrete intentions and gives us external direction – a reason to get up in the morning and a fuel to stay the course in the face of the inevitable setbacks that arise along the way” (Page 238).

Or if you prefer, “Stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

I’ve discovered that leadership has a way of forcing us to clarify what we believe and then requires us to take a stand on those beliefs.

Sometimes our purpose gets fuzzy because we’re under the stress of a looming deadline, busy with the day to day grind or emotionally distracted by things happening in our relationships. That’s when it is important to step back to think about why we are doing what we are doing.

Our bias for action as leaders calls us to push ahead in spite of the lack of clarity, but the wise move is to stop, step back and reflect.

Once we are clear about the PERSON we want to be and the PURPOSE we want to serve, nothing can defeat us unless we let it. We won’t fall for anything.

What really matters to you today? This week? What are you really trying to accomplish?

When we get those things straight, we have the spiritual fuel we need to make it happen!

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.

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Monday Quick Tip ~ Set the Pace

Richard Petty Rookie Exp

He who hesitates is lost. 

Adapted from Joseph Addison’s play Cato (1712):”The woman that deliberates is lost.” 

One of the most exhilarating experiences of my life was driving a race car around the Atlanta Motor Speedway in excess of 150 mph.  I was fortunate to take part in a morning session of the Richard Petty Driving Experience.  After a short instruction period, we were led to the track to take our place behind the wheel of a 600 horsepower speed machine.

In session one, I ran 8 laps before being brought in for some coaching by an instructor.  He told me, “You are getting too close to the pace car. Make sure you follow his lead and don’t get so close.”  I kept my distance and did better the second session.  My lap speeds by 10 miles per hour.

It’s been said many times, “Speed of the leader; speed of the team.” We, as leaders, set the pace for our team members.  This is where leadership becomes an art.

If we move too fast for our team, we run the risk of losing touch with those who are following.  Team members become tired from trying to keep up.  Eventually they become discouraged and quit.

If we move too slowly, top team members become bored.  Other members get distracted and have a hard time staying on track.  Petty squabbles and divisions soon cloud pursuit of the mission.

When we find the right balance of pace, the organization’s mission is accomplished in a way that energizes those who follow us.

Balance is the result of knowing ourselves as leaders.  Do we demand perfection or have expectations of our team members that are too high? Do we know the strengths and limitations of our team members?

As leaders, we set the proper pace so that our team members feel great about being a part of our team and accomplishing the organization’s mission.

What tips do you have for setting the right pace? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Monday Quick Tip – Count the Cost of Your Life

Image courtesy of digidreamgrafix/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of digidreamgrafix/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every man is his own greatest enemy, and as it were his own executioner. — Sir Thomas Browne

It all came together this week during my daily commute along a fast and busy highway.  One of those rare moments when the “university on wheels” curriculum matched what was going on outside of the car.  I was listening to Tony Schwartz and Jean Gomes’ book, The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working.  They posed a question that grabbed me and caused me to turn off the sound so I could reflect on it.  The question was, “Is the life you’re leading worth the price you’re paying to live it?” (The question is on page 26 in the printed version.)

As I traveled in the “slow lane” I noticed cars moving past on my left at high rates of speed. Then I saw a highway patrol officer in front of me, lights flashing.  The fast moving cars were about to pay a price for their excessive speed.  I silently wondered, “Is the price of a ticket and the hassle of getting it taken care of it worth a few minutes gained?”

As leaders, we want our team members and the people we lead to be healthy so that they can give their best energy for the good of the team.  Our followers require the same of us. They want leaders who are healthy and practice good self-care.  Rare is the person who will follow an unfit and unhealthy leader.

At the beginning of a new week, it is good to count the cost of the choices we are making.  Are we taking care of ourselves so that we can offer our best to the people we lead? Do we have time built into our day to simply enjoy ourselves?

Excessive speed will cost us.  Eventually we will slow down.

Can we do it before someone makes us and we have to pay a high price for it?

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Monday Quick Tip ~ Think Beyond the Obvious

Image courtesy of Idea go/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Idea go/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A drowning man will clutch a straw. – 19th Century Proverb

We’ve heard it said often that “desperate times call for desperate measures.”  I’ve found in leadership that the default mode in stagnant organizations is “desperate times call for comfortable measures.”  We tend to do what has worked in the past without considering that times, people and conditions have changed. The familiar approach ends up becoming the straw that the proverbial man grasps while sinking.

A better approach is to think beyond the comfortable obvious.  Lately, this idea has smacked me in the face to wake me up.  Here’s what I mean:

  • In the movie Moneyball, Billy Beane (Played by Brad Pitt) argues with his scouts telling them that they can’t choose new players the same way they used to.  They have to think differently.  They have to define the real problem. To the scouts, the problem is obvious. But to Beane, it is something entirely different.
  • In the DIY television series, The Vanilla Ice Project (http://www.diynetwork.com/the-vanilla-ice-project/show/index.html), Rob, (A.K.A. Vanilla Ice) buys rundown Palm Beach mansions and renovates them. I enjoy watching the show because he is continually thinking beyond the ordinary to add what he calls the “wow factor.” It’s a way of thinking beyond the obvious.  Having seen firsthand, two of the homes he has redone, he has definitely succeeded.
  • In the late Randy Pausch’s book, The Last Lecture, he tells about an assignment he gave his Carnegie Melon students to virtual reality world. They could not use shooting violence or pornography.  Realizing the default mode for 19 year old males is to create a game with sex and violence, he required them to think differently. He was amazed at what they came up with when they thought beyond the obvious (“They Just Blew Me Away,” Pages 120-122).

As leaders we help define reality then help our team members think beyond the obvious.  If team members were already thinking that way, they wouldn’t need us.

Our challenge as leaders is to throw the life ring of extraordinary thinking so that clutching a straw becomes impossible.

How will you help your team members think creatively this week? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

by

Monday Quick Tip ~ Don’t Be Fooled by Sunshine and Roses

Image courtesy of James Barker/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of James Barker/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Things are not always what they seem… – Phadeus, Roman poet

I attended a gathering of leaders recently in which we were going around the room telling how things were going within our teams.  Each of us, except one, stated some good things that were happening as well as some things with which we were struggling.  When it came to one leader in particular, this leader shared that everything was going great!  Wonderful! Good things were constantly happening!  All said with a smile that betrayed believability.  I knew first-hand that things were not in fact all sunshine and roses.  Things were quite the opposite.

As I reflected later on that meeting, I realized that the combined experience of the leaders in the room was over 80 years.  Yet, here was a leader who chose shut off any wisdom from   other leaders in the room who had wrestled with the very same issues and had grown through them.

Why do we unintentionally spurn the wisdom in the room?  Is it to make ourselves look better because we feel inadequate?  Do we want to appear as leaders who have it all together?

None of us have it together.

None of us want to see other leaders fail.  As leaders, it is in our nature to see others succeed, even those in “competition” with us.  We don’t want other leaders to make the same mistakes we did.

When things on our team are not sunshine and roses, the sharp leader is not afraid to admit it and glean from the wisdom in the room.  Instead, they embrace it.

What wisdom can we gather this week that will help us grow in our leadership?