Unleashing Your Leadership Potential

There are lots of words that describe me.  The "professional" ones include: author, speaker, trainer, consultant, facilitator, business owner, Chief Potential Officer (off the Kevin Eikenberry Group) and leader.  The "life" ones include: husband, father, son, brother, friend, Purdue Graduate, reader, learner, and leader.  The "personal" ones include, Boilermaker fan, farmer's son, tractor collector (yes, the real ones), auction lover and optimist.

All of these things (and more) make me who I am and are relevant to this blog and why you will want to read it.  

Below you will find my ongoing ideas, thoughts and suggested action steps to help you become a more effective leader, and to help those in your organization develop their leadership skills.  The path towards Remarkable Leadership is just that - a path.  My goal is to help you on that path, providing insights and ideas to help you unleash your leadership potential.

As leaders we all know that we are leading people into the future.  And while the future is always murky, and we are never exactly sure what our desitiona will look like, few of us lead the way Amelia Earhart did.

72 years ago today she and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator.


(Image courtesy of The New York Times and their On This Page service.)

Reading this this morning challenged me, and I believe it should challenge all of us leaders.

Are we stretching our vision far enough?

Are we trusting the potential of ourselves and our teams?

Are we willing to go to the unknown?

These are innovative leadership questions well worth asking, regardless of our leadership role.

Ask them of yourself.

Ask them when you are coaching and mentoring other leaders.

Ask them of participants in your leadership development programs.

The questions are useful, and the answers more important.

Amelia didn't just ask and answer though, she followed her expanded vision and took action.

You can too - likely your risk is less than you think, and almost assuredly less than the risk she faced.

Last week The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a big change to the Academy Awards process - next year there will be ten nominees for best picture rather than five.

The last year that there were more than five nominees was 1943 (Casablanca won that year by the way). While the number of nominees fluctuated between 8-12 prior to that, since 1944 there have always been just 5.

This story made the top page of USA Today Section D last week, and I predict not too much will be mentioned about it for awhile, until about the first of February (the nominees are announced on February 2.)

But in the time between February 2 and the date of the show on March 7th, there will be plenty of talk, commentary and news coverage.

Why do I mention this in a leadership blog?  And why now?

I mention it as a prediction of what we will be able to observe about change between now and then.

Like many of the changes in your organization, this is a major change that will be seen as:

 - a break with tradition
 - unnecessary (it has been working since 1944 - why change it now?)
 - not a good thing
 - not something that will solve a problem (even if people agree that there is a problem)

And since the reaction in the media will, I predict, mirror the reactions you get to any major (or minor) change effort within your organization, there will be unintended corporate leadership lessons available to all of us.

Consider it executive coaching on your television and in your newspaper.  It isn't everyday that you can get leadership training from the TV, but I predict this will be one of those chances.

If you don't want to wait until February, consider this as one of your near term leadership activities.

Mention this change to those you work with and ask them what they think.  You will get a variety of responses (including some "it doesn't matter to me" answers.)  Do this as a simple conversation starter.  But afterwords, spend some time thinking about people's responses and think about how you can apply those lessons to your next change effort.

I'll continue to watch this in the coming months and we will make this an ongoing change leadership lesson for all of us, but to start, even if you don't do the exercise I described above, at least reflect on your own personal reaction and feelings about this change - this insight alone might help you understand better how others will feel about the next change that you are leading.

As leaders we have a love/hate relationship with meetings. We know that when we get people together we have the opportunity for collaboration, creative problem solving and clear communication.  For these reasons and more, most any leadership development program is going to include some training on meeting management or facilitation (though in my experience, probably not enough).

We deliver Facilitation Skills for Leaders workshops, meeting skills workshops, and I have consulted with whole organizations on improving the value of meetings. 

While the OfficeTeam survey of 150 senior executives reported in the USA Today last week was just a little snapshot graphic it told a useful story.

The question:  How would employee productivity be affected if your company banned meetings one day a week?

The results:

No change                 46%
More productive        45%   
Less productive           7%
Don't know                  2%


Would I expect that some leaders would feel fewer meetings would be better?

Of course.

What is my proof?

Iran in the last few days.

In a country where public protest has long been squelched and socially frowned on, people are protesting.

People are talking about their concerns.

People are making their voices heard.

This is all happening because people decided. . . 

. . .  to ask questions

. . .  to care

. . .  to take action

. . .  to lead

People didn't lead because of their title, or because they had taken an official leadership development program.  They led because they chose to use their skills.

All of us can lead.

Starting where we are . . .

 . . . heading in a direction we care about.

We can consciously develop more effective leadership skills.

But we need not wait.

You can lead.

Today.


 

This question in the subject line came to me this morning when I read the Fast Company article titled, What Will Cell Phones Look Like in Ten Years?

You may be interested in what cell phones will look like, and, while there are experts who answer that question, the odds are, they won't be 100% right.

And when you answer my question = What will your business look like in ten years? - you won't get it 100% correct either.  But that is a poor reason not to think about the answer.

Most all would agree this is an important question for corporate leadership to ask, and it clearly is a strategic leadership question.  But the question applies to all of us as leaders. 

If you aren't thinking about, and envisioning where your organization and team are headed, they might not end up somewhere desirable.  It is our job as leaders to ask this question because we are in the lead. 

Regardless of our role this question, and the thinking that goes with it, is critical to successful leadership. Organizational success will follow with a clear picture of the future followed by outstanding and frequent leadership communication.

It is that simple and that difficult. 

But it starts with the question. 

And continues with action, based on your answers to the question.

 

Some weeks in my mostly-regular Friday Inspiration post I give you something speciifc to think about, or links to something inspirational. 

Today is different.

Today I urge you to look inside yourself.

Think about something that inspires you.

A song.  A quotation.  An Accomplishment.  A poem.  A picture.  A place.  A person. 

Once you have thought of something.  Be refreshed by it now.

Listen to the song.

Read the quotation.

Review the accomplishment.

Read the poem.

Look at the picture.

Reflect on the place.

Call (or think about) the person.

Make this one of your leadership activities for the day - in fact, do the thing now!
 
This action will inspire you all over again - and as leaders we need constant inspiration to bolster our leadership influence, strengthen our leadership communication and generally build our leadership skills.

I can urge you, but you must do it, and you can do it anytime.

If you want an ongoing reminder, print out this post and put it where you can see it everyday.

Last night I heard a report on NBC Nightly News, quoting the newly announced C.E.O. of GM (and former CEO of AT&T), Edward E Whitacre, Jr. as saying "'I don't know anything about cars.' He went on to say, however, 'A business is a business,' in his view, and the principles, as he put it, are the same."

I thought about this quotation last night, and tried to decide what I wanted to say about it in this blog post.  Before I decide to write, I searched to see if there was any more to the quotation.  As reported by Bloomberg in this article, the full quote,

“I don’t know anything about cars,” Whitacre, 67, said yesterday in an interview after his appointment. “A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars. I’m not that old, and I think the business principles are the same.”

The words left out by NBC - and I think I can learn about cars. I’m not that old -  change the message from a leadership perspective significantly.

My reaction to the initial quote reported on TV was two fold:

1.  There is truth to the fact that "business is business" and a leader with his experience will bring significant value, whether he's worked in the auto industry or not.  (in fact, his outsider perspective can be a significant benefit in and of itself).
2.  Saying that he knows nothing about the car industry and that it won't matter sends a very interesting message to all of the employees he will be leading.   Think about it this way - how would you feel as a 5,10 or 20 year industry veteran if you heard your new leader disregarding industry knowledge?

My reaction to the full quote changes my thoughts about Mr. Whitacre's tact, insight, mindset and leadership style significantly.  The line, "and I think I can learn about cars. I’m not that old".

This line speaks to his openness to learn, improves my belief in his leadership communication, and speaks to his leadership influence as well.

Regardless of which version of the quotation you read, it raises the important question I ask in the title of this post.   Must leaders know the business, or just know business? 

My firm belief that there is far more things the same from business to business and industry to industry than there is differences.  If you agree, you will recognize that significant experience in one industry will mostly transfer to another.   However, while businesses are mostly the same, they aren't totally the same, so the need to learn the nuances of the business are important both for the knowledge, and as a model of learning to those who are following.

In the end, the answer to the question is yes - we need to know the business and business in general - leadership in the organization, and leadership in general.
 

This fact shouldn't be lost on your leadership development program or your personal development plan.  Be a learner, learn both broadly and narrowly.

While we can never "know it all", we will be more successful as leaders when we remain on the path of learning.

"Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don't like to do."

-- Albert Gray, author and speaker
 

• design the pipeline to the appropriate size to take care of normal needs and allow for additional unexpected product needs. 
• maintain the pipeline so that product will safely and reliably flow
• continue to think about ways to make the pipeline more effective and efficient in delivering product.

• procrastination
• the trumping of the urgent over the important
• lack of goal clarity

These problems warrant blog posts of their own, but none are a big surprise to any of us.  But these aren't the reason we have it all wrong.

We have it wrong because we believe we can reach our goals "a little at a time."  That makes as much sense as dusting one piece of furniture today, another tomorrow, and another the next day.  Once the polish and the rag are out, it is much more efficient to finish the job right then.

But we do the same thing with our goals.

We try to make a little bit of progress, a little at a time.   I'm not opposed to this in theory, and incremental progress can be valuable.   But if this is the ONLY way you try to reach goals, especially in a group, you will never reach ultimate success.

Because we must polish all the furniture at once.  We must, schedule time to take concentrated, massive action on a gaol to make big progress. 

Put everything else aside. 

Focus on the task. 

Create momentum.

In these bursts of effort you will create greater progress and spur your thinking.  New ideas will pop up, new connections will be made.  Greater excitement and passion will feed further development and progress.


While we don't want to discourage incremental progress, it should be done effectively, without the false feeling of progress that comes from too much multi-tasking, and for maximum results should always be done in connection with periods of MASSIVE, focused action.

How do we take advantage of this idea as a leader?

As leaders we can model, teach, plan for and expect this behavior. We can schedule time designated for Goal achievement.  You might even consider setting aside a full day for goal focused efforts only - leaving the core work alone - and expecting massive progress on goal oriented activities.  (People often do this for office cleaning days - and while that might be helpful, which day will give you greater results?  A day of cleaning your desk and files, or a day of focused goal achievement activity?)

If you want great goal results, apply this approach with all of your team leadership activities, and watch your progress towards your biggest oranizational goals grow rapidly.
 

Each Friday I try to share something to help leaders be inspired. 

Why, you might ask?

While all of us can use inspiration, as leaders, since our attitude and mindset is watched more closely we therefore have the ability to influence others more effectively and more often.

Yes, our leadership skills matter, but this weekly post is meant to remind us that our leadership effectiveness goes beyond skills and leadership style.

The bottom line is that we must consciously remain inspired.

And this week I'm not giving you one resource, but 100.

The Online College has recently posted a list of 100 Incredibly Inspiring Videos for Leaders. While 100 may be a bit overwhleming for all but the most hardy videophiles, do yourself a favor and watch at least one today.

Consider it the easiest of your leadership activities for today.

William James is known as the father of American psychology and his writing and wisdom is well documented.  In this week's Powerquotes Plus, I published one of his gems.
 

"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."
 

This is extremely valuable advice for us as leaders and it comes into play in several instances.

Consider your coaching and mentoring role.  With a relatively inexperienced employee do you want to share everything they did wrong (all at the same time)?  Know what to overlook.

From an organizational leadership perspective, do we want to get lost in the details and minutiae of a project, acting, knowingly or unknowingly as a micro manager?  Know what to overlook.

When receiving feedback or results from a 360 assessment, are you focused completely on your weaknesses or faults, or do you take a balanced view, recognizing, valuing and capitalizing on your strengths as well?   Know what to overlook.

I could go on, but I hope that these three examples give you a context to consider the wisdom of William James from a leadership perspective.

Finally, make answering these questions be one of your leadership activities for the day.

By James' definition, how wise am I?

As a leader, what do I have trouble overlooking and why is that?