Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

She was moved by a recent death of a local industry icon taken too soon, especially for those around him who depended on him for so much. Her request to meet for dinner grew from just two to three, adding a colleague who also wished to honor a fallen mentor…and to contemplate future direction.

Over dinner, we three covered multiple facets of leadership; personal journeys, gender bias and all the implications that comes with it, compensation and sacrifice and friendships and turf wars, succession plans, disruption, betrayal, greed, and opportunities. After discussing so many topics regarding our unique professional services industry, the demeanor and approach of our fallen brother in arms stood out all the more.

He had quietly epitomized the qualities of leadership we all seek to develop and hopefully emulate:•Humility•Integrity•Empathy•Accountability•Responsibility•Approachability

His funeral proceedings demonstrated that he had his priorities straight at home as well. •Faith•Family•Friends

To truly honor someone, to remember their essence and influence and contributions, something needs to be done to keep the memory alive. A plaque alone won’t do. Memorializing a leader’s contributions requires forethought and clear purpose to be sustainable. Too soon to know what that looks like but rest assured, the seeds were planted and they will bear fruit.

The consulting engineering industry lost a great man recently. A smart, kind, good-hearted leader who left his mark on the lives of the people he touched and left a legacy to be built upon, not ignored.

Rest In Peace, Barry.

Have a blessed weekend, everyone!

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I spoke with an esteemed colleague yesterday about life after the unfortunate realities of living (almost) through a pandemic. In a word, she implored the time is Now for action. No more waiting for this or that. We don’t know what might impact plans and might not want to know our future down to the daily details … but waiting, delaying, procrastinating, in light of what we’ve experienced, is no way to live our lives going forward.

We have gone from tracking mask purchases to infections to deaths to vaccines approved to purchased to administered. Thank you Johns Hopkins. We have tracked economic impact and societal inequities exacerbated. We have watched overwhelmed front line workers and medical professionals stretch their Hippocratic oath to its limits and wept as so many lives have ended well before their closest expected they would.

What else did we lose? A year (and counting) of freedoms, breathing “easy”, dreams unrealized, social gatherings evaporated or severely dampened, hugs and kisses, babies born and raised but not shared for fear of infection.

How many times will we have to learn we are not out of the woods until vaccinations reach a scientifically agreed upon level and until then we need to follow basic rules drummed into our heads for 400 days?

What do we need to do NOW?

•Take action

•Live a full life incorporating lessons learned through observation and reflection in whatever level of quarantine you have endured

•Listen to the experts while avoiding paranoia

•Plan your best future

•Celebrate each day as a blessing, identifying the good, the positive – from the small wonders to the enormous victories

Have a blessed weekend!

Good afternoon, Team! It’s (Good) Friday!

Sometimes good leadership can be defined by what not to do. I’ve witnessed where passionate, driven and fairly intelligent people in leadership positions try to get things done by telling other passionate, driven and intelligent people in other levels of leadership positions how to do their job.

•Work in the office where I can see you•

Track your progress this way

•Call this contact at this time and get this point across

It typically doesn’t go well. You get an immediate response and maybe short-term compliance followed by disgust, frustration and burn out. Then they leave. Because they weren’t given autonomy, trust and creative license.

Rather than tell someone how to do something, if you are clear with the results and the reason, people will walk through fire, give up sleep and make you proud.

•I need that estimate by Friday so we can win that work

•Can you finish those performance reviews by next Wednesday so we can get the raised processed and reward our employees?

•Please line up that engineering proposal by the 15th so we can get started on the next phase of this project.

*Oh, by the way, please let me know if you need anything from me.

Your Team wants to do a good job. They deserve your support and they want to take ownership of the task, the initiative, the project. They want the ball and they want to learn how to score without you chirping in their ear every step of the way.

Sometimes the simplest things make all the difference.

Have a blessed (Easter) weekend!

He is risen indeed!

Good morning, Team! It’s Saturday! (I was on Spring Break last week and this one got away from me a little.)

Feed the chickens.

Milk the cows.

Stack the hay bales.

It seems easier to identify with a young farm kid working hard from dawn to dusk than one who grew up in town. I happened to grow up in town and my humble beginnings took place on a job site, not in a farm yard.

Grease the loader.

Haul the gravel.

Crush the concrete.

Reflecting back, I realize I’ve been earning a wage for a half century, gaining experience in construction, engineering, management, leadership, governance, consulting … and along the way, picked up a few nuggets of wisdom, like…

Calvin Coolidge wrote: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

John Maxwell says, “Leadership is Influence.”

Mahatma Gandhi said, “a good sign of a leader is not how many followers you have but how many leaders you create.”

My goal as a kid was to please my Dad and create value for the family business.

My goal as a young man was to work hard, raise a family, do things right, create value for the companies I worked for and have some fun.

My goal as a middle-aged man was to work harder, spoil my family, do the right thing-no matter how hard, create exceptional value and relax once in a while…

In the fourth quarter of my working life, I seek to influence, impart wisdom and help others reach their full potential. That could happen at the front of the room with a tie and sport coat, at the back of the room cheering on and nodding my head or sitting shoulder to shoulder in a circle beating the drum and sharing stories of the lessons I’ve learned from my journey so far.

That’s me, in a nutshell.

What’s your leadership journey and how do you plan to finish it?

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

How many of you are controlled by your calendar?

How many of you double, triple, quadruple book your time?

How many of you are courageous enough to block out time just to think? …and actually do it…AND feel good about it?

In my last CEO role where my calendar was slammed continuously, it felt odd if I had a break in it. It made me uncomfortable.

•Was it lunch time? Nope, I’m supposed to be networking over meals.

•Was it a dentist appointment I forgot to go to? Nope, my business partner would have prompted me and my dentist was very proactive.

•Was it a mistake where I fat-fingered another appointment and deleted the one that should be where this blank spot on my Outlook calendar stares back at me now? Nope, I was meticulous with my schedule.

So how did that white space get there?Was it, perhaps, deliberate?
Hmmmm.

What’s that law about an object in motion tends to stay in motion? Newton understood.

So what do leaders do to overcome what seems to be inevitable? We defy gravity. We push back against what people say is “natural”. We stay vigilant and don’t give up until we’ve achieved what we said we would.

So how does that apply to your calendar?
*Be selective

*Honor your values

*Learn to say No (professionally, respectfully)

Why?

So you can get comfortable not being on the phone, on a video conference or in a person to person meeting all day long? No.

Clearing your head starts with clearing your calendar.

•Take a walk to restore your being.

•Spend some of your new found time to observe your Team functioning without you being an integral cog.

•Rise above the fray and spend some time praising people doing the right thing and making a significant difference.

•Think strategically, not tactically.

•Do something special on an ordinary day for a loved one.

Start today and begin to reap the rewards that come from stepping off the hamster wheel, if only for a brief moment.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!
I think tolerance is a leadership attribute that seldom gets the attention it deserves.
We hear about all of the bold, courageous, innovative things that go on in the business world where leaders do heroic and extraordinary things but are seldom, if ever, noticed for simply turning a cheek or letting something slide because they know it’s small stuff and we shouldn’t sweat it.
Not to be mistaken with indifference, tolerance is to care, think it through and decide to not react… at that moment. Rather, make a mental note and when tempers are calm and receptors are active and willing to listen, a kind-hearted reminder of the inflammatory issue is resurfaced, reminded and a better path for future application is discussed.
To tolerate and do nothing, to not follow up is not just tolerance, it is disinterest and inexcusable for a leader.
Let’s explore an example,A CEO visits a branch office and notices some bad behavior. A manager is yelling at some of his direct reports. A mistake was made and the manager felt it was his place to publicly reprimand his subordinates to make an example of them. •A tyrant CEO rips into the manager right then and there and trumps the public demeaning exercise with one of his own, reflecting badly on all parties and giving insight as to why the manager behaved the way they did.•A tolerant CEO chooses to say nothing at the time but follows up that evening with a call, an email and a scheduled appointment in two weeks to monitor progress.•An absent CEO looks the other way while at the branch office (because they have other business while there) and chooses to forget the incident ever happened.
Which one would you work for?
What lingering effects from the “tyrant” or “absent” examples can you imagine might impact the branch office, the HQ and the company?
People come to work each day with the basic intent that they want to do their job well and make their supervisor, company and family proud. When managers and leaders get in the way by not caring, not trusting or not tolerating-they remove value instead of adding it.
Picture your day today. You might have a situation happen similar to the example provided. Whatever your role, consider being tolerant, professional and courteous. Leave the situation better than when you found it.
Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I’m reading one of John Maxwell’s many leadership books where he reprints a poem included at the end of this blog. It has no acknowledged author but it is worth repeating.Before I type it in though, I wonder who the intended audience is…

•A 6 year old aspiring entrepreneur excited to set up their first lemonade stand?

•An 18 year old high school graduate getting ready to take their next step?

•A 22 year old college graduate anxious to put their advanced degree to work?

•A 40 year old breaking away from a large bureaucratic organization to become independent and do things differently?

•A 56 year old longing to leverage their experience in meaningful ways?

•A recently retired 67 year old who still wants to live a full and purposeful life, directed more by weather than commercial need?

•An 86 year old who contends with additional physical limitations but still yearns to add value?

The truth is that all fit into the intended audience. Dreaming big isn’t limited to an age or time of life. It’s an attitude of being deliberately bold regardless of the head trash you’ve momentarily allowed to steer your personal ship. Mustering courage isn’t limited to the battlefield, it could be getting out of bed as a cancer patient tired from chemotherapy or fighting depression for decades or going to work at a job you don’t love.

Here is a short version for those who prefer brevity over art, from Robert S Kaplan,

“Reaching your potential is not simply about dreaming or being idealistic. It is a process that involves specific actions, exercises, discipline and hard work. It is challenging, rewarding and unending.”

Now,
Dream Big

If there were ever a time to dare,
To make a difference
To embark on something worth doing
It is now.
Not for any grand cause, necessarily –
But for something that tugs at your heart
Something that is worth your aspiration
Something that is your dream.
You owe it to yourself
To make your days count.
Have fun. Dig deep. Stretch.

Dream big.

Know, though,
That things worth doing
Seldom come easy,
There will be times when you want to
Turn around
Pack it up and call it quits
Those times tell you
That you are pushing yourself
And that you are not afraid to learn by trying.

Persist.

Because with an idea,
Determination and the right tools,
You can do great things.
Let your instincts, your intellect
And let your heart guide you.

Trust.

Believe in the incredible power
Of the human mind
Of doing something that makes a difference
Of working hard
Of laughing and hoping
Of lasting friends
Of all the things that will cross your path
Next year
The start of something new
Brings the hope of something great.
Anything is possible
There is only one you
And you will pass this way but once.

Do it right.

-Author unknown

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!
If you sit down for a special meal with your favorite guest and find the menu contains exactly what you’ve been craving, are you likely to order a kids size meal or are you deciding how to get enough for a doggy bag to cover you for the next three, non-breakfast meals?

Did you know it typically takes on average 20 minutes for your stomach to send a message back to the brain that it is full.  Knowing this, do we eat slowly to wait for “the message”, do we eat the portion dished up for us to be polite or do we order extra and keep shoveling until we are stuffed beyond comfort and pay dearly with cramps and other gastrointestinal chaos.

Let me pause and share that an old friend would often caution me and others with,  “Be careful what you wish for.”

What if your favorite meal scenario was a microcosm of your life?
•What if the food symbolized everything you needed to live a full and meaningful life?•What if you knew how long you’d live and could manage your resources to maximize joy, minimize pain and optimize your life?•Do you think that portion you selected would be less than you currently enjoy or more?
Is it possible that glutinous behaviors through life are like the gastrointestinal chaos if you’ve stuffed your face (or drank yourself stupid or smoked a carton of cigarettes a day) or … pursued more than what was healthy, necessary, prudent or wise?
I grew up with little and longed for more. I was willing to work harder than anyone I knew to acquire the next level of success, at times neglecting some of the most meaningful parts of life along the way. The cost of pursuing more is higher than we realize while under the trance of the pursuit.
They say perfect is the enemy of good. Similarly, more might be the enemy of sufficient.
Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!
Today, a good man’s family is saying goodbye to his life here on earth. He passed a week ago and like so many other things that COVID has taken away, a well represented and well attended funeral is among them.
My second earthly father did not aspire for fame or high praise. He had a sense of duty and honor and a strong desire to build and provide for his family. He wanted to create a healthy environment for them to grow up in and he surely accomplished that.
His civic leadership included city council and mayoral service for decades. He would clean snow off the streets that he made certain were constructed and maintained well to begin with. He sought safe passage for all who lived and visited their town.
He would monitor the water plant to ensure proper chemicals were distributed for clean, safe water.
He would mow the grass at the city and church cemeteries so people could honor those who passed before them in a respectful way.
He transported friends and family to countless medical appointments over the years to ensure their quality of life was the best it could be.
Most importantly, he was a leader at home. He prioritized his time around family. He led where it mattered most and showed me how to do the same.
Rest In Peace, Neil.
Have a blessed weekend!

Good afternoon, Team! It’s Friday!
I was introduced to white lithium grease 40 years ago. We maintained our own construction equipment so we became used to grease guns, the need to keep things greased to minimize metal on metal wear and how dirty the job was to grease trucks and loaders and rock crushers and everything else that had a grease zerk.
The physical properties of lithium grease could be “applied” to situations in a business setting. I’m not talking about a bunch of tin men and women standing around waiting for someone to shoot some grease in the right zerk allowing them to stay mobile. Rather, there are friction-filled conversations and situations that grind on and create more tension than most are comfortable with. Typically, some thing or some one breaks prior to maintenance/full reconciliation.
Last week I encouraged you, as leaders, to train some plumbers and run a tighter ship. This week I’m digging into another physical activity that revolves around preventative maintenance.
Metal on metal friction produces heat, creaks, sloppy joints and when neglected long enough broken equipment that could lead to physical damage and personal injury.
Person on person friction, especially in the work place, can lead to hurt feelings, arguments, resentment, and retention concerns resulting in an unnecessary career path change. Wouldn’t it be great if all you had to do was reach in your desk once a week and find the zerk on your colleague that needs a couple shots of grease?
Maybe you can, and without the mess.
All relationships require maintenance. Instead of grease, maybe you need to demonstrate concern by regularly asking how your coworkers are doing. A shot of care. Discover what their interests are and what matters to them. Think about that regular maintenance as a way to keep the machine running smoothly. If you are listening to the cogs in the machine (the people in your company) you can prevent things from binding up.
I hope you have someone in mind after reading this blog and that you will reach out with genuine and deliberate effort to express your concern for them, lend an ear to what they need and look forward together.
Have a blessed weekend!