Author: Eric

When Love Comes Out Of You

The above clip is from one of my all time favorite musical artists, Pat Metheny.  As I watched the clip I couldn't help but wonder if Metheny knew what was coming out of him?  On that night, was he pouring out something larger than himself?  In the arts we tend to presume this to be true.

As the melody wrapped around me I thought this process cannot be confined to just music, or the arts for that matter.  But isn't it true for all that we do?

Yes, but it is a choice.  It's a choice of love.

I am convinced that the only way the moment is cemented into our memory and being is when we pour out love.  Here are some points on how it can make a difference:

  • When you pour out love to those close to you, you create legacy-a great one.  My father poured so much love into me that I couldn't discover how much until after he passed.  My father and I were playing our parts through the years and it was as if it prepared me for the scene I'm in now.  And as much as that breaks my heart, it is building something in me.  
  • When you throw away your career, you open up a blocked portion (a large one) of your heart.  It's the best open heart surgery on earth.  An unblocked heart allows love to flow into your work and calling.
  • When you open yourself up to the author of love, you begin to see all people through the lens of love.  It changes everything, and I mean everything.
  • When you love, you become someone to count on.  Someone there with an umbrella on a cold rainy day.  So many people are looking for that umbrella. 
  • When you love, even those who hate you will become worthy of your prayers and help.  It's crazy, but it opens up forgiveness and second chances.  We've all needed to be forgiven and given a second chance.

So where are you pouring out love today?

The Lens Of Style Points

You may be involved in leadership team development or a new staff member just trying to navigate the "matrix" that sometimes is career.  Regardless of what your role is, you need to be very careful with "style points."  In this post I'll confine that to the following definition:

    "Evaluating an individual's approach and/or presentation in order to judge that person's worth."

My friend Marc told me once that leaders need to develop a strategy to bring clarity to their intention.  In other words, don't let your intention be run over by your "style."  I see this as important.  I'm a visionary thinker, so consequently, if I were in a meeting on budgets I could appear bored.  It's not that I see no importance in the "numbers," I just have a limited attention span for that kind of information.  Over the years I've implemented specific strategies to combat my bored demeanor.  Coffee would be a great example here.

So what do you do with the idea of judging people based on their style?

Even if I master my delivery and presentation, I can't always walk away clean.  I can continue to work on getting better, but as many thought leaders know, your weaknesses can only move up a notch or two when it comes to growth.

Our best opportunity is in not weighting our decision too heavily on style.  This is especially important in team (a group of peope who see the goal as more important than their own individual agendas) environments and loving relationships at home.  If you're not careful, you can begin to see people through a very critical lens.  I know that Malcolm Gladwell and others embrace an idea that the first impression is everything.  It has a place, but to use it as the sole criteria would be naive.  Besides, if first impressions were truly everything, I never would have married my wife.  She laughed at me when I introduced myself to her over twenty years ago.

Just remember that the shy team member or over-confident sales rep. may have an intention worth looking for beyond the veneer.

Does Your Facebook Status Give You Meaning

I came across this piece from Ed Batista today and it speaks volumes.

It got me thinking about how we view our status in life and the value we place on it.  In many ways it can consume our energy in life.  We don't often utter it, but we live it out for all the world to see.  What's my Facebook status, what's my job title or how much mortgage can I afford.  Often these are just masks for other motivations.  Most specifically to be seen as someone worth paying attention to.

In my days of roaming the corporate plain, I used multiple forms of status to give me a brief feeling (note brief) of satisfaction.  Obviously, the working life didn't make a lot of sense to me.  Like the man or woman who drives home feeling glad they earn six figures.   The feeling satisfies, but for only a moment.

Here are a list of some things that I see as long-term status symbols.  And can stand the raging winds when they come:

  • A relationship with God.  Not religion, but a friend to scream at (I've been doing this a lot lately), cry to and a trusted source for insight.
  • A family.  Include as many or few to nail this one.
  • A mission.  Something you pursue until the last breath.
  • A community.  A group of people that you can give heart to (thanks Cyndi).
  • A healthy physical lifestyle.  This communicates the value you place on the gift of life itself.

Leadership Team Development

During my days in corporate America there was nothing more aggravating than disunity within leadership teams.  Unity (or the idea of) was found in meetings and award ceremonies, but severely lacking during hard times.  Needless to say we didn't spend much time on leadership team development.  How good would your organization be if it took this type of development seriously?

Here on some ideas on how to grow, or start, leadership team development within your organization:

  1. Conduct a meeting and begin the embrace of candor.  You'll encounter a lot of silence, but that's ok.  Conflict comes into the air when a word like candor comes around.
  2. Putting leaders together for development exercises can be very revealing.  It might clue you into what you really have.  This very important to know when times are tough.
  3. Have each leadership team member partner with an entry level employee to gauge humility.  Pay close attention to the response you get when the idea is broached.  It will tell you much about the person's character.
  4. Conduct mock emergency (of the organizational variety) drills.  Go as far as you can hear to create a sense of reality.
  5. Study jazz.  It's the type of music that is fluid and improvisational at the heart.  Teaching leaders how to be fluid and improvisational is essential for breakthroughs.
  6. Have your leaders spend some time with those who are coming to the end of life.  Not meaning to be morbid here, but it can build a sense of urgency and thankfulness.
  7. If you're responsible for the leadership team development, ask yourself what your love level is.  Do you love the people you're serving?

Back To Character

The following is a re-post from 2006 and is dedicated to the U.s. Congress and AIG.  May they understand the power of character and the influence therein.

A mentor of mine reminded me this week of something I'd heard
before, but didn't really understand until now.  He told me that one of
the biggest threats to a leader is when their skills development
outpaces their character development.  Quite frankly, the problems
we're seeing in corporate America (H-P, Converse Technology, etc.) is
very likely a result of this chasm.  Think about it, no one would
question the skill level of the executives at H-P.  But obviously we
would question their character.

So how much time does the average leader spend on character development vs. skills development?  If the most recent headlines (Business Week Online)
are to be believed, more time is spent on the skills side.  Isn't funny
how the thing that can wreck a life or career is the thing we ignore. 
Some call it arrogance…I call it stupidity.  We've all been warned
about what happens when character is left in the dust (see Enron,
Citigroup or Adelphia).

You have a chance to turn the ship around by giving your character
some attention-major attention.  Start by putting as much time into the
development of your character as you would on skills.  For example, if
you're taking fifteen hours of classes at your local university to get
your MBA, then give your character that much.  Believe me, their are
churches, universities, books and more that can offer you the right
material on character development.  Do it now!  You thank me for it
later…

The world needs more leaders who are well balanced in their character and their skills.


Embracing The Upside and Downside

In our pursuits (career, money, family, relationships) we find it easy to embrace the upside.  Let's face it; everybody's looking for a win.

Focusing on the upside is a good trait to have.  Probably means you're an optimist.  The world can use more of those, so all-in-all its good.

The question remains for us all: do we spend enough time embracing the downside?  Not to extremes or morbidity, just a firm, calm consideration.  Maybe it'll prepare (as much as anyone can prepare) you for the tough times.  Maybe it'll make you more humble, realizing that the downside is not a question of if, but when.

You'll be better for what feels like it kills.

I offer the following on embracing the upside and downside:

  • The downside is a long-term fertilizer for the upside.  Please note the long-term part of this advice.
  • Slowdown to see the upside.  Way too many leaders are "task" and "do."  You don't want to wake up one day wondering what happened.  You'll have be deliberate here, so make an appointment with yourself to stop and look around.
  • The downside can be scary.  Facing it is the only right approach.
  • The only way to eliminate risk is to stop.  Stop loving, stop learning, stop serving, just be a spectator.
  • You won't find your strength in prime-time.  It's found in places and people who you never expected to find connection with.  Prime-time people are only there for the party.  Stop the party, and they stop the caring.