It’s a good thing for a leader to be liked. People are motivated to do their best for someone they like. But good leaders know that warm & fuzzy feelings can’t be the most important thing. Like a doctor, good leaders even need to be willing to inflict some pain when appropriate. Continue reading When Leadership Isn’t Warm & Fuzzy
I recently wrote about the challenge of getting what we want to do to align with what we should do[1]. Let’s continue down that path a little further. How do we move ourselves from “I should” to “I will”? Once we find the motivation for the right behavior, the next step is to find some methods for executing on those motivations.
Here are some methods and more motivations that might facilitate the shift from “I should” to “I will”:
Whether it’s a lazy streak, risk aversion, lack of clarity, apathy, or something else that keeps you from doing what you should do, you have a choice. Succumb to it and accept the consequences or take action and overcome it. You don’t have to conquer it in one fell swoop. But like repetitions at the gym, a consistent series of small, intentional steps will strengthen your ability to resist “wants” in favor of “shoulds”. You’ll probably experience a few setbacks along the way, but don’t let them derail you. Learn from the misses and your success will continue to grow.
Imagine how different life would be if every time we chose our next action we based it on what we should do instead of what we want to do. Why are we surprised when our followers choose a less important task over the most important one when our own wants often win out over the shoulds?
Continue reading I Don’t Want To…
Common leadership wisdom tells us good leaders hold 1-on-1 meetings with their direct reports. Less common is the wisdom of how to make those meetings a good use of time. Some give up or just hold them occasionally. Others hold them religiously but they’re not really sure why. For some they’re a weekly social time. And in the worst cases, we dread 1-on-1s with our bosses because we know we’ll come away with more things to do and beat up over what we’ve done wrong. Ouch!
It’s decision time. And the decision is clearly yours to make. You’ve done your due diligence, gathered as much data as you can reasonably expect to get, made your pros/cons list, done the cost/benefit analysis, sought the perspectives of every stakeholder – now all that’s left to do is decide. But the decision still isn’t clear.
When the facts are clear, some decisions jump out at us. If I want to fill my gas tank at the cheapest price, I can gather information on local gas prices and decide where to go. But life is bigger than logic, and some problems involve unknowable or unmeasurable variables. Continue reading Decision Time
I suspect change would come much easier if I was leading robots. Replace some hardware, upgrade the software, and presto! Change complete. But then again, for change to be that easy I would have to be a robot, too.
Leading others through change starts with leading myself through the change. Continue reading Leading Yourself Through Change
Unless you’ve been asleep like Rip Van Winkle (Google it if you’re too young to know the story), you know that change is a constant in today’s world. But just because it’s constant doesn’t mean we’re good at it.
Change would be easier if we all viewed it the same way. But inevitably, while some are clamoring to have changed yesterday, others are saying, “not in my lifetime!”. Continue reading Ready or Not, Here Change Comes!
There’s a classic illustration of filling a jar with sand and big rocks. Put the sand in first and the rocks won’t fit. Put the rocks in first and the sand fills the space 
around the rocks and everything fits. The time management application is that we should do big, important tasks first before doing lesser things.
That’s good advice…sometimes. It might even be good advice for most people, most of the time. But – and this won’t set well if you’re a “big rock” fan – it ranks among the worst advice I’ve personally ever received. Continue reading Time Management: When Best-Practice Isn’t…
I wonder if anyone has ever answered “no” when asked if they were teachable. “No, I’m done being taught – I already know everything I need.” Makes for a good chuckle, but we wouldn’t really admit to thinking that.
We couldn’t completely stop learning if we wanted to. Our five senses are constantly feeding new information to our brain. But the question, “Am I learning?” is different than, “Am I teachable?”
Learning can be passive, happening to us pretty much by accident. Or our curiosity may drive us to experimentation that we learn from. But the idea of being teachable implies being in a state where we welcome insights from others.
Continue reading Am I Teachable?
I want to share this list of insightful interview questions, adapted slightly from those used by a client[1]. Try asking some of these in your interviews to assess the culture impact of your potential hires:
Can the candidate properly assess himself/herself? Humble enough to see where a skill is missing? Desire to learn new skills? Hunger to be better?
Looking for: HUMILITY; SELF-AWARENESS; DESIRE TO IMPROVE; HUNGER
Does the candidate have the humility and integrity to admit mistakes and apologize? Have the people skills to effectively verbalize the admission of mistakes to others? Care enough about the team to be honest for the benefit of the team?
Looking for: HUMILITY; INTEGRITY; PEOPLE-SMARTS; TEAM; CARING ABOUT PEOPLE
Is there humility to put team above self? Indications of caring about fellow team members? A passion regarding team performance; a shared team standard of excellence; results better together than apart? Examples of team innovation?
Looking for: TEAM; HUMILITY; CARING ABOUT PEOPLE; EXCELLENCE; INNOVATION
Can they explain the dynamics without disparaging the person? Do so in a professional way? Do so while protecting the other person’s reputation? Express empathy or understanding about someone they do not like?
Looking for: PEOPLE-SMARTS; INTEGRITY; CARING ABOUT PEOPLE
Is this person able to be flexible? Innovate or find creative solutions? Have a hunger for excellence that will not be derailed by obstacles?
Looking for: FLEXIBILITY; INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY; EXCELLENCE; HUNGER
How realistic is the candidate’s self-perception? Humble or selfish as they express the misconception? Mature/immature in what they express? Care about how the misconception affects their team or others? Express their concerns about this misconception in a socially appropriate way?
Looking for: SELF-AWARENESS; HUMILITY; CARING ABOUT PEOPLE; PEOPLE-SMARTS; TEAM
Is the candidate aware of what helps them succeed? Express their relationship with the boss in the context of team? Examples of humility in describing the best boss? Want a boss who holds to high standards vs. coddling them?
Looking for: SELF-AWARENESS; TEAM; HUNGER; HUMILITY; EXCELLENCE
What gets this person excited? Animated? Truly hungry about? Examples of caring about other people as more important than self? Service-oriented traits? Passion to do something really well? Passion for self-improvement?
Looking for: PASSION IN GENERAL; CARING ABOUT PEOPLE; EXCELLENCE; HUNGER
[1] Courtesy of Action Property Management
