Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

With a few weeks of rest, it’s time to light the path forward.

Can you see what’s next?
Whether your vision is 20’ in front of you or 20 years from now, if you’re not good at looking forward, you better start practicing today.

The next question is when you look forward, do you look up, straight ahead or down at your feet? The real question is whether there is more than one answer to that question.

Look up!

My not-so-new, new gig leader recently shared he is a strong believer in the Pygmalion Effect.

The Pygmalion Effect in the Workplace: an employee will adapt his or her behavior and level of performance to meet the expectations set by their leader and the organization. The expectations that a leader holds of his or her employees can powerfully influence the employees’ behavior.

My suggestion?

Have a race between the expectations you hold for yourself and the ones your leadership and organization hold for you.

Take a deep breath.

Grab another cup of coffee and pack a lunch. You’re gonna need ‘em both.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning,Team! It’s Friday!

I’m taking a holiday break to rest up, sharpen the saw, celebrate a couple key birthdays and ring in the new year.

Merry Christmas!
Happy New Year!
Remember to count your blessings, foster an attitude of gratitude and smile. It’s infectious.

If inspired in the interim, I’ll store new blogs until 2018.

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

I was communicating with a business leader yesterday about a colleague. There was frustration in the tone because the colleague was unable to complete tasks assigned, causing the business leader to work longer and disrupting their routine and personal schedule. At some point, and perhaps far too often, we’ve all been there.

Once an expectation of a deliverable has been set, the intended recipient, whether client, boss, friend or coworker, is waiting. No one likes to wait beyond the predetermined time. We’ve all started to tap our toe at the microwave. Performance pressure knows no limits and doesn’t discriminate.

There was a slight break in the communication and then, as if a flash of lightning struck, my business leader made a conscious choice to reverse their tone and speak positively. “I don’t want to be negative. I don’t want to complain. [Said colleague] does [this]well, [that] well, [whatever{, [whenever] and everyone is working their [tails] off.

As we careen down our paths trying to get [stuff] done, we may not look kindly at someone traveling at a different pace or possessing a different skill set.

Today, I suggest you make a conscious choice to be more tolerant. Be more positive about that person who’s ass you are pulling out of a fire. They have their own battles. They are trying and motivated to do their best.

Maybe they need some guidance
Maybe they need some training
Maybe they need additional resources

One thing is for sure, they don’t need some uptight [posterior orifice] looking over their shoulder waiting for them to disappoint in some way, shape or form.

Leadership in practice. It’s not enough to know it, you gotta DO it.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!
and the day after Thanksgiving. I’m a tad bit tardy with today’s submission-blame it on the tryptophan.

I recently heard the phrase “burning the candle at both ends” again and the origin, listed below:
First Fig
My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends —
It gives a lovely light!

by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

 

It used to describe who I was, constantly urgent. I felt destined to burn my candle at both ends. I wondered where the urge came from and determined both parents were driven, laser focused and so I realized it was inevitable. But does it have to be?

I regularly tell people, “I don’t idle well.” Not bragging, rather confessing. Do I need to give in to this urge or can I be deliberately more at peace with my surroundings, selective with the things I let raise my blood pressure, choose to leave stress at my bedside rather than pick it up each day?

“Work hard, play hard” is an unspoken mantra of mine. This might be another way to interpret the poem. Some examples would include:

•Interviewing 2 more candidates while on campus for my first professional employer. Skipping lunch, starting early and finishing late, nearly missing my plane back to Kansas City.

•Driving 90 miles to work, one way for 16 years. A couple of times on a snowmobile. Who does that?

•Pushing the limits of sleep, cramming in one more [fill in the blank]…lot to be cleaned when I pushed snow for Dad, one more round of hauling gravel, one more load of dirt, one more…whatever…to get ahead? To flame out?

Perhaps with age comes wisdom.

Perhaps mortality sets in and quality of life becomes a higher concern.
Perhaps there are not enough signs to affirm the extra expended energy has yielded any significant value.

As leaders, we need to choose where we will spend our energy because, like time, there are limits. Showing up tired at work doesn’t inspire. Leaving your post early gives a poor impression. Being present and predictable while being professional and respectful will win the day.

Have a blessed weekend!

On Wednesday, we ushered in TWO new classes of leaders (pictured above). I was blessed to MC this event. My address script is below.

 

ELI class

Good evening! Thank you for coming.

[introductions and acknowledgements]

This is time to celebrate a developmental milestone!

YOU, your company, your mentor and / or your sponsor made a deliberate decision to elevate your self mastery.

This organization (as in ACEC ND) is a PROUD partner in your awareness building process. You’ve been on a journey these past 1-3 years to better define who you are, what you’re good at, and what you might do with your gifts.

•Will you lead the organization (or a significant portion of it) where you are currently employed?

•Will you take a more significant part in your relationships, whether at home, work, industry, neighborhood, church or this very Alumni?

•Will you refine this new found awareness and pay it forward? Or will you leverage it simply for personal gain? Will you recall and support the organizations who worked to hold you up at this point in your journey?

•Or will you close this chapter, forget the training and squeeze yourself back into the shell you started with?

Ladies and gentlemen of the graduating class of emerging leaders of 2017, I implore you to take full advantage of this investment.

-You have been changed in some way. -You have been … enlightened.
-Each and every one of you had at LEAST one Ah-Hah moment during this class and I hope, for your sake, it was a lot more than one.
-You have been joined with like-minded, hungry, wisdom-seeking souls to identify what leadership qualities you posses, those you should nurture and those you know you need to develop.

I’d like to invite…Geordie Aitken, our curriculum coordinator and hipster leader to the podium.

This is where we presented certificates to all graduates.

Closing comments:

Go forth and be leaders! Seek opportunities to lead leaders!

Last Saturday was Veteran’s Day and I want to honor all service men and service women who made sacrifices all the way up to the ultimate sacrifice so that we may live and love and learn in a peaceful, tolerant and benevolent government. God bless America! Goodnight!

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I attended a conference earlier this week where I heard one speaker, an engineer, say “You’ve heard me say this before…I don’t even like people, let alone getting up and talking to them.” That’s how he opened the talk. The number of people who laughed, and the way they laughed, was the best part. It was an awkward chuckle but not loud enough to demonstrate that anyone had a recognizable sense of humor. Such is the life of a bunch of numbers oriented folks; ultra-conservative, ultra-literal, conflict avoidant, introverted and awkward.

During a break I learned one friend introduced another friend to an acquaintance in the industry who started describing his wife’s colonoscopy procedure. Now I understand why this group is normally so introverted. When they do open up, it’s highly inappropriate.

I was able to catch up with a number of colleagues in the industry.
•coworkers
•competitors
•clients
•former coworkers
•former coworkers turned coworkers
•former coworkers turned competitors
•former coworkers turned clients
•former coworker turned supplier turned coworker turned client turned coworker turned client who now wants to be a competitor
(It’s a small world…and I’m getting old)
all trying to be more social than their natural inclination.

One conversation in particular was very reflective between three of us who have held at least 14 significant, career path altering and life changing transitions in the electric power industry since college. The stories of experience, potential and lost opportunities, economic impact, project failures, growth and leadership demonstrated we have seen some of the world. There was little mention of compensation or lifestyle affected. It was genuinely about the variety of life experiences gained on the journey. Jim said “Eric, I remember you told me, ‘You have to get past the stigma attached to changing jobs.’”
Gary said ”I never expected to change jobs half as many times as I have already.”
I stated that I reached the point of understanding I won’t be able to control my career path if it requires I keep my opinion to myself. I want to work where I am provided the opportunity to learn and gain wisdom then the ability to share it with others who value what I have to say.

Have a blessed weekend.

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I was reminded this week how too many words and too deep of a thought might lose some readers so I shortened it up and  referenced a word problem I find value in.

I am reading a new book;

Stick with it! By Lee and Julie Davis-Colan, an update to Stick to it.

In it they contend that world class companies:

1. Do the basics exceptionally well:
•Strategy
•Structure
•People
•Leadership

2. Execute their strategy masterfully

I really like the formula:
Focus x Competence x Passion =Adherence

Basic?

Yup

But if you think it’s that simple, try it out for yourself.

When making an initial assessment of how well you, your team, business unit or company perform, the elements of the formula start to reveal where the weaknesses are or room for improvement might be.

Scoring for a benchmark might disappoint at first but it will also help point out where you need to emphasize in order to improve performance and increase adherence.

You cannot manage what you do not measure.
It’s important to measure the degree of adherence to know how much stress it will endure.
Adherence is the most critical step to fulfilling your strategy and achieving the success you so diligently planned for.

Don’t make a typical New Year’s Resolution style commitment to your company’s future.

Get sticky.

Now get to it!

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

On my travels this week, I met with an old industry friend and colleague for dinner. Given his country of origin, he used the blog title to describe both a religious and philosophical reference to (higher) Self, also referred to as Universal consciousness. He pointed to his chest several times and even with his strong accent and wobbly neck, I knew how deep this conversation had quickly become. With an ample amount of humor, we poked fun at each other’s short comings as a reminder we are works in progress.

We talked about a lot of things; current occupation, joy, pain, how much gas is left in the tank, where to “ride” with the gas left, passion, roles and responsibilities, students, mentors and mentees but most of what we focused on was influence. Shaping minds, institutions, organizations, and cultures. He said, “Eric, we cannot control anything or anyone. We can paint a picture, point in a direction, or whet an appetite but we can’t force anyone to do anything they don’t want to.”

Amen.

As people increase their own awareness, their higher self (Atma) will provide them with the limitations as well as the possibilities.

Maslow refers to it as self actualization and implies the highest form of self mastery is helping others achieve self actualization, a form of leading leaders. Interestingly enough, the motive for genuine development is not monetary. The biggest payback is an indescribable feeling, a welling up inside of pride, joy, ultimate purpose that you helped one, two, ten, twenty or more dig down inside of themselves to become the best damn version of themselves.

How does this look?
How does one help others find…Atma?

Perhaps

•Cutting the people free who are caught up in their own safety net after trying to fly, lost confidence, dropped out of the sky and there they are, stuck, contorted wings, bruised ego and frustrated disposition.
Set them free!

•Demonstrating a belief in someone’s abilities that exceeds their own. Based on what you’ve seen, heard, and experienced, you can instill a new found confidence for what they could, nay should, accomplish with the gifts God blessed them with.
Prop them up!

•Gaining trust and delivering tough messages for those who suffer hubris. Like, “Hey Joe, you’re not that special. You’re shit does stink. You haven’t earned the respect you’re demanding. You haven’t paid your dues and you can’t declare yourself the victor.
{Feedback should be direct, respectful but not mean. I only added the shit comment for effect and to make you smile. I’m exercising literary license … or something like that.}
Set them straight!

If you’re on mile 18 of a marathon, you’ve got a headset connected to a similarly equipped runner just starting out or maybe they are at mile 4, 6, or 8…what could you share with them to make their journey more tolerable, more purposeful, more satisfying?

Challenge: List ten people who have helped you become self aware. Not just the ones that made you feel good but provide a balanced list of good cops and bad cops.

Now list ten people you are helping to achieve their higher Self. If this list is hard to scribe, don’t start grabbing people off the street and pointing out their flaws. Think about who you can effectively influence, then go do it. Once you finish ten, find ten more.

Have a blessed weekend.

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I’m at ACEC in Orlando this week. The conference usually has some high quality speakers and this year was no different.

Robert O’Neill, the Navy Seal who reportedly pulled the trigger to remove the threat that was Osama Bin Laden provided the crowd of 800+ some inspiration and national pride.

As we learned, the term “boys across the street” was used within the seals to describe the most elite. Plain vanilla seals have an 8 month vetting program where only 20% even pass. Seal Team VI was another grueling program, an additional 9 months. As his psychiatrist said after one of the battery of tests, we’re not checking to see if you’re crazy, we’re just trying to figure out what flavor you are.

He was engaging, very well spoken and provided some lessons on how we can behave more like a Team:

•When morale is high, people work better together
•Nobody wants to work for a jerk
•Take emotion out of the decision making process
•Don’t react, Do respond
•No matter how bad it gets, don’t quit
•Little victories!
•Tomorrow is a clean slate, don’t quit now, quit tomorrow
•Stress is a choice, lay it down by your bed at night and decide if you’re going to pick it up in the morning
•Bravery is not the absence of fear, it’s about acknowledging it and choosing to take action anyway
•It’s OK to be afraid
•Panic is contagious
•Complacency kills
•Success breeds complacency
•A great learning tool is failure-own it
•Be prepared to fight
•Perform under fire
•Trust your people
•Never quit

Advice he received from his first commander:
“You’re about to go to war for the first time and the enemy is your doubts, your fears and everyone back home who said you’d never make it…keep your head down, keep moving forward, never quit and you’ll be fine.”

Robert’s theater was war.
My theater is business.
There are a number of unmistakeable parallels.

The good new is you don’t have to kill terrorists today.  You just need to influence your workers not to act like one.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Leaders!  It’s Friday!

Over the past week, Carole and I were blessed to travel to California to experience our young, talented and well adjusted grandson sing, swim, ride bike, play soccer and eat ice cream…all (mostly) unassisted. He’s 5.

Flying back and heading into a challenging week at work, it hit me. My aspirations for each and every team member I’ve ever been associated with fell into the same category as Dylan. I only wanted to see them reach their full potential. My job was to articulate the vast world of possibilities, get them to open their eyes to what they were good at and share some of my aspirations for them until …
they became their aspirations.

This has taken on many forms in many settings over the years:
•Hiring interns
•Hiring new grads
•Hiring experienced staff
•Partnering with vendors, consultants and industry experts
•Entering into an established work place requiring … adjustments
•Releasing talent to be more successful elsewhere

Cradle to grave, a leader never stops trying to cultivate talent.

How do you nurture aspirations in your team members?

•Do you build an environment where they can thrive?
•Do you set goals where they know when they’re winning and when they’re not?
•Do you give them all of the right equipment?
•Do they have consistent support?
•Do you monitor and nurture their confidence levels?
•Do you paint a picture, that tells a story, like charting a course through a potential career path?

It could start like this:
Hi!
I’ve been watching you and I think you have genuine talent.
If you’d like to continue to improve, I’d like to work with you.
I see (here comes the leadership Vision component) you playing at a much higher level with the right coaching, equipment, training, opportunities, exposure and Team.
We will focus on [fill in the critical details here] as we navigate the challenges and opportunities made available through a mutually agreed upon journey.
Are you ready to become the best version of you?

Have a blessed weekend!