Category: Learning

Watch Out for the Blocks

Spoke last week to a group about blocks to their spiritual journey.  It made some uncomfortable, and that was a good thing.  Discomfort can cause one to think harder about things that comfort allows you to ignore.

Have you thought about your blocks, specifically those in your career? 

I don't recommend focusing too much attention on blocks, but managing and eliminating, so you're best can come thru, is the wisest approach.  Blocks are there to be dealt with.  I'm amazed at how often they're allowed to take on roots in our career garden.

Here are some "blocks" that can be very detrimental as you navigate your career:

  1. Insecurities – these are dangerous because we often agree with them in our minds and hearts.
  2. Comfort- it creates a false sense of security.
  3. Intolerance – specifically, of new ideas, new people or new markets.
  4. Inward focus – cripples your desire to network and to learn from the outside world.
  5. Lust – a maddening desire for whatever causes an itch.  Think power and promotion here.
  6. Career – too much on this one and you'll forget that life is more important.
  7. Lack of vision – lack of vision is a block to seeing a great future.
  8. Apathy – an mindset rooted in; "I've heard it all before."  If you have a pulse you haven't heard it all before.

How to Trust a Leader

There is more than one way to know if you can trust a leader. But one key way is find their crucibles.  If leader isn’t willing to talk about them or can’t seem to remember any, a red flag should go up in your mind.


Teddy Roosevelt had some penetrating thoughts on leaders who seemed to have escaped suffering:


“I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

We Are Fragile

We are fragile.  Mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  I know some won’t go here with me, but let’s not pretend that it doesn’t apply.  So wherever you are now, give yourself room to be open.


This post came to me after hearing about a tragedy.  One where hope was lost in one person’s heart and mind. 


So, since we’re all leaders, let’s consider the following:

  • Everyone who hears the words of your voice has the potential of catching a virus.  The virus is you.
  • If you think that human beings were designed to endure harsh words, commands, and the like, I would beg you to reconsider or resign.
  • You may be the only person someone believes in.  Therefore, continue to inspire no matter how much it costs you.
  • If your agenda does not allow you to purposely rub off on those who follow you, then throw out the agenda.  You’re in the legacy building business, whether you know it or not.
  • If you’re helping people realize their dreams, don’t stop there, get into reproduction and replication.
  • Don’t forget the forgotten.
  • Leadership implies responsibility, not privilege (thank you Peter Drucker).
  • Your story is worth telling, so don’t keep it to yourself.

Could you bring the light back to people who see only darkness.  I’m not talking about changing people, just showing a brilliant light and letting the chips fall where they may.


My prayers go out to those today who’ve lost hope.

Conspiring Circumstances

Rain  


Talked to my friend Robin this week and we discussed the idea of conspiring circumstances.  You know, the things in life and work that always seem to come up to mess up.  It used to vex me, but it doesn’t any longer.


Some years ago, ironically, when I slaved in , I always saw circumstances as things that would eventually be eradicated (like polio or the black plague).  But my naive leadership ways kept me from understanding the role circumstances play in this motion picture called life.  Thankfully, I got older and wiser.  I began to understand that it would be better to expect conspiring circumstances, than to be shocked by their appearances.


The key is expecting them-really.  I’m not recommending paranoia or always looking over your shoulder.  But I am recommending a retro-view of your life to discover what part circumstances have played in the scenes of life.  Hopefully, you’re the better for the experience.


We’re so obsessed in our culture with being happy, being secure or arriving at some destination.  If you hold onto those desires, you’ll be dismayed and sad when circumstances come on to thwart you.  Listen, I’m not saying that you can’t be happy or secure.  Just remember the seasonal nature of things.

  • It should be a new paradigm where you accept that there will be times of unhappiness (which can actually lead to greater happiness).
  • It should be a new paradigm that says security is best found in risk, not some idea that you can set up controls to make life safe.
  • It should be a new paradigm that says the ride is infinitely more important than the destination.  Focusing exclusively on the destination causes a missed life.

So the next time you get that promotion and the applause is uproarious, stop and remember how circumstances can, and always will, conspire as you make your way through.

Ode to Dr. Mike

It seems appropriate to do one last post on health this week. I’ve given glimpses of my thoughts on good health, but it wouldn’t be complete without giving a nod to my family doctor.  Dr. Mike is an MD, but one who sees healthcare as a partnership between he and the patient.  In other words, he can’t be the fix for everything, I have to manage my eating, my exercise, my stress management.


The most important part of my “partnership” with Dr. Mike, is the learning.


When I first began seeing Dr. Mike in the Fall of 2003 he gave me some radical advice (at least I thought at the time).  He told me to do some type of exercise daily.  It was radical because I was knee deep in the hoopla of my corporate America experience.  I thought I didn’t have that type of time, nor did I find exercise as intriguing as trying to conquer the world.  Fortunately I learned (still learning).


It’s funny how some seeds of advice are planted long before we understand the importance.  I’m fortunate to have a doctor like Mike.


Here are some things I’ve learned from Dr. Mike:

  • Your health is a gift, better take care of it.
  • Your body was designed to move, so you’d better get moving.
  • Some times you need to just tough it out.
  • Start exercise early in life.
  • Laziness is a dangerous habit.
  • Watch what you eat and what’s in what you eat.
  • Talking about better health does nothing to improve your health.

  

How Do You Hire Talent?

I found this at one of Guy Kawasaki’s Twitter posts.  It’s Malcolm Gladwell speaking at the New
Yorker’s Stories from the Near Future conference back in May.  His speech revolves around our antiquated approach to hiring talent.  You can view the speech here.  Mr. Gladwell makes some great points, but I will allow you to glean that on your own.


Here are my thoughts on the matter:

  • Organizations have spent too much time and money on removing all doubt. 
  • Organizations don’t use leadership to “size” talent up.
  • Organizations don’t know what system they’re built on (thank you Michelle).
  • Organizations need to teach and hold managers accountable for evaluating talent.
  • Organizations need to decide what value they place on people-really.

I know you may be thinking that the above has been said before.  And you would be right.  Nothing new under the sun as once been said.  But here’s something to consider:


A friend once asked me, during a time of great struggle/learning, how I knew if the lessons learned would stick.  I told him that sometimes God has to orchestrate such winds upon our life-tree that our roots go so deep that we never turn back.  I’m living proof of this.  Maybe this applies to organizations too. 


We’re not short on data that tells us to change, but short on character and courage to move forward in change.

What’s DNA Got To Do With It?

I wrote last week about DNAand leadership.  I got some quizzical looks when I discussed this with a few people.  So in the spirit of better explaining myself, the following outlines what DNA has to do with leading people:

  1. Leading people is sacred.  Therefore, that which makes each person unique (their DNA applies here) cannot be disconnected from the leadership process.  I know some managers might roll their eyes at the idea of seeing every follower as unique.  But reality says you have to see people as they really are.  For too long we've asked employees/followers to "check" their voice at the door.  Most of the time this has been done to make the leader's job easier.  Of course that's never verbalized, but true anyway.  Being a good leader was never designed to be easy. 
  2. Leadership = Responsibility.  You can't get around the fact that to lead, is to be responsible for/to others.  Unfortunately, many leaders take leading too lightly…accepting or seeking positions like shopping for a suit at Nordstrom.  Think about the responsibility before accepting a promotion to lead people.
  3. There's a difference between management and leadership.  When a manager is allowed or incented to manage, not lead, followers will be left in the dust.  Managers who don't lead well embrace tasks, not people.
  4. Leadership creates a stress of soul.  It was said of Winston Churchill that he carried a "stress of soul" throughout WWII.  This stress is rooted in a love of, and a vision for, those following you.  It's not romantic, it's not familial, but it is a deep caring for the well-being of those following.  In our age of quarter-by-quarter vision, it is rare to see this.  Tough times reveal whether we carry this trait in our leadership. 
  5. Legacy is defined by our treatment of people.  Whether you know it or not, history will judge your legacy by how you treated people.  This is especially true for those who lead people.  From my own perspective this is a daunting and powerful reality.  I pray that I have lived up to the standard of each person's unique voice I've led.

True Love

Peggy over at the Career Encouragement blog points us to this great quote:

"Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary.  What we need is to love without getting tired." ~ Mother Teresa

Think of the applications (life, work, relationships) and you'll see that Mother Teresa was talking about true love.

What if you redefined love this way?

What Making a Wish Can Teach You About Living

I visited a local chapter of the Make a Wish Foundation yesterday.  One of my consulting clients had business to do there.  This was my first time experiencing this organization, outside of what I've read.  Someone should have prepared me.

As I walked in I saw portraits (photographic) of various kids.  They all looked like what you'd expect from kids in their prime.  I looked and couldn't stop looking.  Not because of weird curiosity, but because I heard this symphony in my head.  It was life playing beautifully. 

I know that everything is not ok with kids who are helped by Make a Wish.  I know, in many cases, their living out a song of goodbye.  

Later in the day, after some time behind me, I was able to reflect on the power of my time with Make a Wish.  I cried.  The symphony returned again.

My lessons were simple:

  • Life is lived now and not later.  You don't have later, you have now.
  • Be sensitive to the emotions seeking to come out. Have a cry over what breaks your heart.
  • Don't miss the symphony playing all around you. 
  • Be very concerned about things or people that cause you to miss the moments.
  • Every organization (profit or non-profit) needs a great mission, not a mission statement.