Leaders Love the Most
Leaders love the most. Haters ruin the most.
“All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.” E.B. White
Get out of leadership if you hate the world. Hide yourself away until you disappear in decay. But if you love the world, get busy.
The problem with the world is haters are energized and lovers are timid.
Leaders love the most:
#1. Negative emotions may point to love.
Anger means you care. Every successful leader I know is frustrated about something.
Examine your anger. Does selfish ambition fuel your anger or do you care about the well-being of others?
Sadness means you care. Disappointment means aspiration fell short. Congratulations if you tried to help.
#2. Positive traits point to love.
Love hopes. Hate gives up. When you hear, “Don’t give up. Keep trying,” you hear leadership. The best leaders always press toward positive outcomes.
Hope is fuel for grit. Leaders give up, not for lack of grit but because hope vanished. Hopelessness leads to hate.
Love is open-hearted. Hate forces compliance. Open-hearted leaders listen and change their minds. Closed minds defend, argue, and coerce.
An open heart takes you further than a clenched fist.
An open heart never bristles at being wrong because the desire for excellence is greater than the need to be right.
Love takes pleasure where hate resents. Always cheer when others thrive. Leaders love the most when they spotlight others.
#3. Love elevates worth.
Hitler was a remarkable – but worthless – leader. Hate leads toward destructive ends. Worthless leaders seek to ruin.
You elevate your worth when you serve the noble interest of others.
If you want to lead, care when others don’t.
It’s childish to say, “If you don’t care, I don’t care.” Don’t let others run your life.
What do you look to see when leaders love the most?
Still curious:
How to be the Leader People Love to See
The Heart of Business, Hubert Joly
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Never trivialize crisis with frivolous optimism. Smart people roll their eyes at Pollyanna leaders. Acknowledge bad and work toward good. The danger of crisis is magnetism. Crisis captures your attention, dominates perspectives, and pollutes attitudes. Leaders who focus on negativity derail progress. When you say, “This is bad,” smart people sigh in relief. When you don’t acknowledge the beast, people focus on proving how bad things are. Freedom to move forward begins after you embrace negative realities. Solutions begin after you look the beast in the eye. Don’t rush to assign blame when things go dark. The questions are… Solutions require accountability. Holding people accountable honors ability and maintains responsibility. Don’t do other people’s jobs. Identify harmful behaviors. Three possible options when things go bad: Problems persist when people repeat disappointing behaviors. Don’t double down on current behaviors when designing solutions. Do you enjoy solving the same problems over and over? More of the same always produces more of the same. Maximize potential by adding support to challenge. Too much challenge shuts people down. Too little challenge invites boredom. Support new behaviors and skills with training, coaching, and accountability. Appropriate stress wakes you up. Adequate support moves you forward. Pessimists define problems. Leaders believe this could be their finest hour. What do leaders do wrong when facing dark beasts? What has helped you stay positive in crisis? How to Be Decisive and Collaborative When the House is on Fire Staying positive during difficult times Like Loading… Living without purpose is easy; just run around doing stuff as fast as you can. Life purpose is living in service to something bigger than yourself. It’s not self-neglect because purpose provides a gallant reason for self-care. The simplest expression of purpose is grow and give. “I awake in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world.” E.B. White Meaningful living isn’t always fun. Service is challenging. Purposeful living is turmoil in a world filled with distraction. What opportunity will you seize and which will you reject? Serving something bigger than yourself is living with love. When fear and love collide, love wins. Anxiety about meaning is solved when you show up to serve now. Just for today, forget about the big purpose of your life and show up to serve the best interests of everyone you meet. You need a reason to be here. It’s easier to be present when you show up to serve something bigger than yourself. If you struggle with being present, refocus on the reason you showed up. Clarify purpose by knowing your weaknesses, strengths, talents, and values. Humility is never fully attained and arrogance is never fully defeated. Life purpose helps because it challenges self-centered inclinations. A purposeless person has no reason for aspiration. Purpose is the reason to develop talent, hone skills, or reach for excellence. Decisions are easier when you aim at something. The hole makes cornhole fun. Goals aren’t always simple or easy, but they provide guidance to decision-making. What does living with life purpose do for people? How might we find and clarify life purpose? Poorly planned one-on-ones squander time. You’re thinking, “Hurry up. I have real work to do.” Reusable one-on-one plans save time. Provide clarity, freedom, and confidence with reusable one-on-one plans. Before team members show up, take three minutes to prepare. Determine the win before you begin. Ask your team member: The past is a platform that can’t be changed. Explore and evaluate the past, but don’t park there. Disappointment follows frustration when you idle in the past. Turn toward the future: Successful one-on-ones always turn toward the future. What do reusable one-on-one plans look like to you? 5 Energizing Conversation Starters for One-on-Ones How to Stop Wasting Time in One-on-Ones “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Anonymous You don’t have time to rigorously plan each one-on-one. Adopt a universal approach that protects time and maximizes opportunities. Items #1 to #3 are posted here. You want engagement, but people nod and disengage when you ramble on. They’ll let you fill time with irrelevant drivel and feel relieved when they leave your office. Talking is thinking when conditions are right. Someone said that you don’t learn when you talk. When experience speaks, listen. But talking is thinking. When you say, “And what else,” after someone shared something they know, you create a learning opportunity. A good one-on-one plan increases engagement. Zip your lip after asking a question. Silence gives power to questions. The more you fix the more you have to fix. Give people space to solve their own challenges. Share insights and suggestions reluctantly. People stop thinking for themselves when you think for them. A good one-on-one plan always includes goals. Say encouraging things, but always seek improvement. There are two goals to consider. Prioritize personal development goals. Don’t worry, people who grow improve their ability to deliver results. Lousy one-on-ones focus exclusively on operations. Challenge with two questions. Ask the above questions occasionally, not every meeting. Support people by offering resources, training, mentoring, or coaching. Challenge and support include action and accountability. Establish accountability by asking, “What do you want me to ask you in our next one-on-one.” What suggestions do you have for a good one-on-one plan? 5 Energizing Conversation Starters for One-on-Ones Solution Saturday: Stop Giving So Many Solutions One-on-one meetings: 4 ways to make them more meaningful Like Loading… In the early days of logging, specialized loggers called River Pigs pushed, pried, and pulled logs off rocks and debris to prevent logjams. On June 13, 1886, a log jam developed in the St. Croix River in Wisconsin that was described by a local journalist as “the jammedest jam” he had encountered. It took hundreds of men working for six weeks to clear it, eventually using steamboats and dynamite. Logjams in life can feel like “the jammedest jam.” They lead to boredom, painful dissatisfaction, discouragement, even jealousy. Be a River Pig when you see logjams forming. The good news is enticement is better than dynamite. Logjams block the flow of life, but a sage uses enticement to blow them up. The skill of enticement is like a River Pig’s ability to release the flow of logs, but we’re talking about the flow of life, not logs stuck on debris. Enticement is using a known interest to motivate a person to experience a renewed flow of life. Enticement blows up logjams by redirecting attention toward unexpected possibilities. Passengers on Southwest Airlines from Long Beach, CA, to Hawaii experienced enticement when they found a ukulele on their seat. Most of us dread long flights, but this crew gave a ukulele lesson. Some passengers didn’t love the chaos, but it’s an example of enticing someone into a new experience. Blowing up the jammedest jam can be dangerous, but it’s worth the effort. Tips: Use something like a ukulele to capture interest. Create a safety net that instills confidence. A leader who doesn’t ask questions is a know-it-all with a closed mind. “My greatest strength is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.” Peter Drucker The path to expertise begins with repetition. A person who becomes an expert has done something many times. But leading many meetings doesn’t make you an expert at leading meetings. Focused practice makes you an expert. The second question yields better results than the first. Ask a new employee, “What do you do for fun?” Avoid the seduction of stealing the conversation. Don’t respond with, “I have fun when ….” Instead ask… “What got you interested in (Insert the thing they do for fun here. Say, sky diving.)?” Use the speaker’s own words. People prefer their words to yours. Don’t say, “What got you interested in that?” Instead ask, “What got you interested in sky diving?” First questions address obvious issues. Second questions explore meaning, purpose, method, and value. First question: What’s your mission? First question: Who are your best customers? First question: What’s frustrating? Why don’t leaders ask more questions? How can leaders become experts at asking questions? Still curious: Questions Proactive People Ask Source of the Drucker quote: How to Consult Like Peter Drucker Like Loading… 6 Essential Ingredients for Effective Strategic Planning – Podcast ]]>
I have, in large part, become who I was when I was a kid. True success is becoming your best self. Don’t waste years trying to become someone you aren’t. What happens when you try to become someone you aren’t? Disappointment and frustration. True success requires you to become your true self, not the person others expect you to be. Bill George and Zack Clayton have written a book that enables leaders to pursue true success, True North: Emerging Leader Edition. Beginnings determine endings. When you pursue material success and neglect self-awareness you lose yourself to possessions, position, power, and prestige. The journey toward true success begins with self-awareness. “Developing self-awareness by understanding your life story and reframing your crucibles should be the starting point on every person’s path to becoming a leader.” George and Clayton Self-aware leaders know their strengths and accept their weaknesses. Gaining self-awareness requires introspection and feedback. Introspection apart from feedback leads to distortion. Feedback without introspection gives too much power to others. “… lack of self-awareness leads to self-deception and errors in judgement.” “Self-actualization is the full realization of your talent and potential. Psychologist Abraham Maslow refers to it as, ‘the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming.” True North: Emerging Leader Edition “The hardest part of being self-aware is facing our weaknesses.” George and Clayton Dave Pottruck, former CEO of Charles Swab, said denial is the biggest challenge we face on the journey to self awareness. True success is worth pursuing. Thanks to Bill George for his contribution. What suggestions do you have for leaders who aspire to true success? Still curious: The First Step Toward Self-Knowledge is Realizing You Don’t Have It This post is based on my conversation with Bill George and his new book, True North: Emerging Leader Edition. Like Loading… Successful leaders develop leaders. High performing team members crave development. But your hair’s on fire. What if you don’t have time to plan leadership development? Identify the top two or three strengths of everyone on the team. Display your team’s strengths on the wall or create a slide in your meeting deck. It might look something like… Mary: Bob: Sue: Schedule each team member to discuss one of their strengths. Mary might kick off the next team meeting with a three minute discussion on how to encourage people. Possible topics: You can’t answer all the above questions in three minutes. Choose one or two. Ask Mary to suggest three behaviors that express encouragement. Allow time for questions. Ask each team member to choose one behavior they will intentionally practice before the next team meeting. Ask one or two team members to report on their experience at the next team meeting. Final thoughts: How could you modify or improve the above plan? Like Loading…Crisis: 5 Ways to Fuel Progress When the Lights Go Out
Crisis: 5 Ways to Fuel Progress When the Lights Go Out
5 ways to fuel progress in crisis:
#1. Set people free:
#2. Begin with what.
#3. Explore who.
#4. Design solutions and develop new skills.
#5. Add support to challenge.
Bonus: Speak aspiration into crisis.
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7 Powers of Life Purpose
7 Powers of Life Purpose
7 powers of life purpose:
#1. Increases discomfort.
#2. Lowers anxiety.
#3. Informs being present.
#4. Affirms self-awareness.
#5. Gives feet and hands to humility.
#6. Energizes the pursuit of excellence.
#7. Simplifies decision-making.
Still curious:
A Simple Reusable One-On-One Plan
A Simple Reusable One-On-One Plan
A reusable one-on-one plan:
Prepare:
Define success:
Turn toward the future:
Still curious:
A Simple Reusable One-On-One Plan, Part 2
A Simple Reusable One-On-One Plan, Part 2
A simple reusable one-on-one plan, part 2:
#4: Ask questions. Listen more than talk.
#5. Don’t fix.
#6. Create goals.
#7. Challenge and support.
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Saturday Sage: 7 Steps to Blow-up Logjams
Saturday Sage: 7 Steps to Blow-up Logjams
Blow-up logjams:
Enticement makes blowing up logjams fun:
Enticement: 7 practical steps to blow-up logjams:
An example of blowing up a logjam:
2 Ways to Ask Questions Like an Expert
2 Ways to Ask Questions Like an Expert
7 things good questions do:
2 Ways to Ask Questions Like an Expert
#1. Ask questions frequently.
#2. Follow questions with questions.
Second question: What makes your mission matter?
Second question: What made them become your customers?
Second question: How can you address your frustrations?Like this:
6 Essential Ingredients for Effective Strategic Planning
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The Journey to True Success
The Journey to True Success
The journey to true success:
The sticking point:
Learn from Bill yourself:
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A Free 10-Minute Plan to Include Leadership Development in Team Meetings
A Free 10-Minute Plan to Include Leadership Development in Team Meetings
Leadership development in team meetings:
#1. Identify:
#2. Schedule:
#3. Behaviors:
#4. Commitment:
#5. Accountability:
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