We first learned of the balance concept through the tale of Goldilocks and the three bears.  Since then, we’ve all been on a subconscious quest for “just right”.  Ironically, there is no such thing.  Balance is a continuous process, not a destination.  You don’t pull your proverbial RV into the just right camp site and hang out for a year.  It’s more like driving around the perimeter of the campground and the kids point to their desired spot … but you never actually stop the RV.

Let’s look at this from a leadership perspective.

When you step into a new role, you’re likely stretched thin and it feels too big.  “Maybe I bit off more than I can chew…”.  Then one day after position mastery you begin to think, “I could do more.  Maybe this role is too small for me to settle in for the remainder of my career.”  Ultimately, we all find something that seems just right.  Enough challenge, enough opportunity, enough free time, enough executive or Board support.  Just right.

Truth:  we all need to be stretched and if you do feel just right, you’ll quickly become complacent and perform poorly over time.  Perhaps the best fit is the pace of change balanced against your appetite for it.

Whether porridge, thermometer, relationships or political climate, it seems the temperature is constantly changing wherever we turn.  You can change your environment or change your attitude.  The latter is much more sustainable.  We adapt and adjust and seek a new balance.

Truth: The more nimble we become, the more valuable and more pleasant we are to those around us.

I’ve been watching The Last Dance about Michael Jordan’s basketball career and focusing on his  last season.  Most of his team would say he was…not soft.  His leadership style on the court reminds me of Steve Jobs stories of a difficult personality who pushed the people around him to achieve unheard of accomplishments … but how are they remembered?  These two exceptional mentions became billionaires and well respected global icons.

We, as spectators, are fascinated with breaking barriers and high success but what price would you pay for that?  Don’t we all want rewarding work (Mastery), high purpose, and autonomy as Daniel Pink suggests in his book Drive?

Truth: Leadership is influence and it requires balancing your approach to your audience to help them realize their full potential.  Being a tyrant could possibly make you rich and famous (more likely it will alienate you from most people) but that’s not leadership.

As a country, we are all facing the balance between long-term public health and a sustainable economic plan.  We can’t even agree on wearing masks right now, although this seems to be approaching uniformity.

Has anyone stopped to recognize how our reactions to the COVID crisis stands out compared to the rest of the globe – in a less than favorable way?

We are out of balance as a country and need to employ some self and situational awareness (cornerstones of emotional intelligence) to bring the effects of this virus to an end.  Wear your mask.  Keep your distance.  Practice good hygiene.  Adapt and adjust your previous habits into new and socially acceptable behaviors.

Have a blessed weekend!

A lot has happened since my last blog and rather than jump into the fray, I wanted to take some time to absorb this rather than simply react.

I’ve listened to a variety of perspectives on the current civil unrest and without a doubt, we need things to improve.  Let me restate that…we need to greatly improve the current state.  How we do that seems to be the bigger question.

Change agents have been heard these past few weeks.  They have the megaphone and people are listening.  We can no longer sit quietly as inactivity translates into acceptance.  Radical thinking like abolishment or defunding of law and order is an overreach without thought to the well being of society.  There is bad behavior that has been tolerated for too long but to throw the baby out with the bath water is simply irresponsible.  Couple that with inflammatory language interjected when respectful dialog is the norm during problem solving and you get a monologue.

Problem solvers … do just that.  Consultants and negotiators and subject matter experts and people who have gained decades of experience are best suited to be involved in creating meaningful solutions for the wickedly complex issues we face today.  This may include politicians and police chiefs and military dignitaries as well as stakeholders from each aspect of the affected parties.  All must be heard and all must listen.

Leaders often possess traits found in change agents and problem solvers.  We may have experienced an occasional generalist leader with specific traits that could do it all themselves.  Unfortunately, the issues of civil unrest we currently face are a heavy lift that we, as a country…and as a global population have failed to succeed at so far.  Leadership is influence.  The greatest leaders need to be at the table and stick to their part while the rest of the stakeholders and solution providers are heard as we arrive at a sustainable solution we can all be proud to be a part of.

Everyone must do their part and everyone must stop stereotyping and demonstrating bias based on their past.  As we look forward, we can’t dismantle the past.  It forms the path to how we got here.  Does selective memory serve us well?  I think it is how we regard the past, not whether it existed or not.

A special note to the very high percentage of law enforcement and military personnel that serve their communities with honor, love and respect, THANK YOU!  We enjoy our freedom and security because of you.  Senseless violence has no place in our society.  We appreciate all that you do to uphold order in the face of adversity, confusion and lawlessness.

Have a blessed weekend!

In 1989, I started working in a town 90 miles away from my home.  I drove in daily for the better part of 16 years.  My choice.  When I asked my supervisor if I could work from home once in a while, he said “We don’t have a telecommunications policy.”

Well ok then.  I guess I’ll continue to drive back and forth.

Fast forward 31 years…

For the last 2 months, if we didn’t have a large amount of work force working from home (WFH), we’d be in a literal world of hurt.  Today is far from perfect and we may not know how much economic damage has been done or when things return to anything close to what used to be.  This much is for certain:

•WFH will be more common from here forward

•Distance learning can be accomplished effectively

•Technology will continue to fill in the gaps discovered by this global pandemic

•Driving and flying will be considered an optional premium for many businesses

•Leaders can no longer expect that “no telecommunications policy” will be an effective reason employees need to be in the office everyday to demonstrate their value

Times are changing and leaders need to stay nimble, flexible, open-minded and focused on how to maximize value rather than simply collect talent in familiar places so they can see the whites of their eyes.

Qualifications:

Trust is earned not granted so it may take time to be allowed to work remotely.

Some types of business roles require physical interaction and WFH may not be possible.

I personally prefer a mix of WFH and face to face and believe balance is critical to function optimally.  Leaving the choice, when possible, up to the individual is best practice.

Have a blessed Memorial Day holiday weekend!

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of hearing Todd Musselman, a Vistage speaker, share his insights in what he called

“The vital choice“ and spent time explaining the difference between a victim mindset and an ownership mindset.

He said something in the middle of his presentation that struck a chord and I’d like to strum it a few times for you today.

“The only there is here.”

What does that mean?!

Well, it starts with the reinforcement that presence is everything.  “It is the portal to everything that is meaningful to the human condition.”

I was watching some financial news channel during lunch yesterday and the phrase (title for today) popped up as part of some company’s advertising.  The context seemed far too narrow and my mind started racing as to what that phrase means to others right now and how I might interpret it (strategic plan, vacation plan, succession plan, retirement logistics plan, post COVID-19 recovery plan).

What’s your next plan?

•To reconnect with friends and family?

•To visit your favorite restaurant?

•To finish your must do list before this blessing-in-disguise-of-a-lifetime slow down lifts and you didn’t get done what you should have been able to get done?

Dr. Elvin Isgrig was one of my professors in college and as he stated, if he had created a To Do list at an earlier age, he felt he would have been far more successful.  The To Do list is really nothing more than a daily plan.

Ben Franklin said “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

You’ve likely read a previous post of mine about how Andrew Carnegie commissioned a consultant who told him the best way to focus his leadership was to generate a prioritized list (plan) of the five most important things needed to be done the next day and stay on point thus minimizing distractions and accomplishing far more than he would otherwise.

So…

*Let’s make a plan to be the best leader we can be

-The best version of ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually

-To be kind and tolerant and humble and honest

-To share our feelings regularly with our loved ones instead of waiting for hard times or regretful moments

*Let’s make a plan for our children to be set up for a higher quality of life and deeper relationships than we experienced

*Lets make a plan to be kind to ourselves, forgive ourselves for being … human, disappointing ourselves for some obscure thing that no one else knows of or could possibly care about

Be deliberate in your planning but don’t be consumed by it.  Read that again because I’ve failed at this continually.

The passage that speaks to me and gives me pause is Proverbs 16:9 NIV

“In their hearts, people plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

Have a blessed weekend!

{What does that term mean?}

It starts with the basic understanding of what you have … then being self aware enough to realize you’ve been blessed with so much more than you can use that you can’t help but be … embarrassed.

If you asked any one of the people fighting for their lives right now, whether due to a virus, cancer, heart disease or a myriad maladies that rob the stricken of the quality of life we aspire to, health is their riches.

If you visited a prison filled with people who made poor decisions, whether accidental or malicious, crime of passion or convenience, good hearted, cold hearted … and offered freedom, absolution would be their riches.

If you are well traveled, you have likely seen how so much of the rest of the world lives on so much less than we do in the USA; scavenging through dump sites for articles others have thrown away, sleeping without shelter and going days without food…they would say that we live in an embarrassment of riches.

{How am I supposed to react to this?}

How about starting with something as basic as food.

I watched a news story tonight as milk producers in nearby Wisconsin donated milk, that would have otherwise been dumped, to produce 20,000 pounds of cheese, then donated to local metro food pantries.

{That’s nice…but how does this affect me?}

You’ll get up tomorrow morning from a comfortable bed and clean sheets, take a hot shower, eat a nutritious breakfast, jump in your late model car to your essential job or get on your computer with a fast enough network to work remotely.

Perhaps you can find a few minutes during the day to reflect on the embarrassment of your riches and pass on some of those through a donation to a charitable organization, take your pick.  I like Second Harvest.  None will turn away help.

It’s important to count your blessings but it’s even better when you share them.

Peace.

This Easter is different, much different.

•No sunrise service

•No shaking hands with your fellow parishioners

•No driving across town to sit in a swanky restaurant to be waited on while you overeat before going home for a mid-day nap

•No driving any distance to sit down with relatives for a meal, some stories, laughter and perhaps some games or sharing music

Instead,

We will be thinking and praying for:

•the 17M+ recently unemployed

•those who have been directly impacted health wise by the virus

We will connect in other ways today.  Phone, email, text, videoconference, a chat in separate cars or a talk without the hug.  We will share more time with fewer people and a chance to have deeper conversations.

Let’s realize that we can overcome just as Jesus overcame death.  The reason for this season is that our Savior rose from the dead.  He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!

One thought I’d like to leave here…

While we are blessed as a nation there are many more unfortunate souls today than there were just two months ago.  Our government is doing what it can today but I’d like you to consider what else YOU can do for the less fortunate.

If you are saving for a rainy day…it’s pouring outside.

If you are looking for a cause…the needs are abundant:

-Your church

-The homeless

-The addicted

-The unemployed

-Those who are immobile

You can give, you can patronize, you can be flexible enough to sacrifice something, you can be kind, you can be loving, you can drop off a small gift on the stoop, you can pick up groceries, you can make some masks instead of quilts, you can call someone up for 2 minutes just to check in on them, you can … replace the “you can” in the list above with “I will”.

Have a blessed Easter Day and remember this day when your freedoms have been restored and may your appreciation become action going forward.

Pandemic ramifications don’t have to include silence.

I changed my cadence at the beginning of the year for a variety of reasons but over the past few weeks, I’ve struggled with whether I should stick to the once a month leadership descriptors or if I should jump into the fray of an unprecedented virus reaction and the ensuing humanity.

Is this a conspiracy started by [name your favorite enemy]?

Is this divine intervention?

Is this politically motivated?

Is it good?

Is it bad?

Frankly, who cares?!

Will you spend your limited energy trying to understand why this happened…or will you focus on how you are going to adapt and adjust to the spread of a virus that has ravaged our way of life?

I am guilty of watching 3 or more hours of news between early morning and late at night when I am not working remotely.  Beyond building awareness and reminding me several times a day to wash my hands and to stop touching my face…it just makes me sad for all of the unemployed, the sick, the anxious, the scared and the angry.

Now is not the time to…

•Complain

•Give in

•Give up

Here are two examples of what leadership looks like during this pandemic:

National Institute of Health Director of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci

 

Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson

As I explore the “what roles describe a leader” series, it is only fitting that we interrupt the norm during this pandemic as everyone’s world has shifted and (I will predict we are not half way there).

I saw a sign at a service station in White Bear Lake, MN the other day that said “Will change oil for TP”

By now, we all know that teachers have been asked to work remotely and become proficient in e-learning.  My 8 year old grandson and his adoration for the iPad sees little shift as he goes from YouTube for recreation to YouTube for education.  Perhaps we should take a page from his book as he seems ready to adapt.  The need for education, regardless of venue, is obvious.  The need to provide continuity, whether educational, nutritional, or social, is also an imperative and we are, as a nation, figuring that out.

Do we think that need disappears when we reach the age of 18 or 22 or 26 … and graduate?  While we might be ready for something new like on-the-job training or learning in a different manner, the need to learn and the need for teachers is a life-long endeavor.  Enter the leader who understands this and makes it part of their responsibility.

Can you imagine if it was assumed by leadership that a new employee comes fully equipped with everything they need to be successful and no time, energy or resources were committed to their continued development?  The wise leader/teacher recognizes he has the beginnings of what could be a future company asset.

A level five leader recognizes that they have  both the opportunity and the obligation to help said new employee as well as the five, ten, twenty and thirty year veterans…reach their full potential.  In so many arenas; software, hardware, fiscal, social, physical, political…identifying where they are, where you need them to be and where they ultimately want to be.

Teachers are a bit like farmers.  The student is the soil and developing into fertile ground, a willingness to accept the nurturing, maybe breaking through hard pan, maybe irrigating dry patches, maybe fertilizing deficient soil, maybe planting seeds multiple times and weeding out thoughts and ideas that don’t serve the needs of the organization you’re developing them for.  The picture in my head of a farmer is someone who dutifully plugs along each day performing the chores necessary to work with the seasons, having faith in the weather and the one who controls it, to prep and plant and prevent and harvest and store and bring the fruits of their labor to market.  Then start the process all over again, and again, and again.

Every single one of us has memories of teachers in our lives.  Each teacher committed to make our lives better that we can be prepared, we can understand more, we can develop into teachers and leaders ourselves.

Embrace the reality that as leaders, we teach by simply modeling the way and if you aren’t modeling what you expect out of your students, adjust immediately.  They are watching, they are learning and they are looking for you to chart the course or they will be looking for someone who can.

Have a blessed month ahead!  There will be extraordinary challenges and you will need to adapt to simply survive.  Make good, thoughtful choices and invest your time wisely.