Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

I watched some of the (former FBI director) Comey testimony Thursday. Several times I thought to myself, I considered my problems to be significant…until I listened to some of his testimony.

I’m not what most would describe as “political”. Comey stated he and the bureau work hard at staying unbiased toward either party but that doesn’t mean he isn’t political. Quite the contrary. He’s a player.

Problem description that I dug up in my archives:
•An undesirable state of existence
•Based on fact
•That can be changed
•Within reason

Leaders find themselves facing problems every day and most days, more than just one. However, most decision makers have a strong tendency to jump to solutions rather than properly defining the problem.

It’s difficult to solve a problem with the best possible outcome if you don’t define what you are trying to correct. On the other hand, clearly defining what the undesirable state of existence is sets you up to generate one or more solutions and maybe even pull in some colleagues to bounce ideas off of.

Instead of ready, fire, aim…take the time to frame up the problem at hand, devise at least three options, include people closer to the stated problem and enlist their help, empower them to integrate the solution and delegate authority to solve future problems where they tell you about it, when and only when they think you need to know.

Problems exist everywhere. How you describe them and who you enlist to help you with them will make all the difference in your world.

Have a blessed weekend!

Actual package delivery outside on Thursday.  Post delivery person didn’t even have the energy to hit the doorbell by the time they finished piling everything up.

 

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

Leaders can get pulled into making many decisions in a single day…if they allow it.  I maintain this shouldn’t happen in a well-run organization.  It’s as easy to get pulled into the knock ’em down decision making as the one click order button with Amazon Prime or calling in to QVC (Ahem).

One of the most critical steps required in good decision making is to separate wants versus needs. At home, that line can get blurry and the control mechanism might be your check book balance. In business, the line moves constantly and requires diligence, solid and defensible logic and a strong constitution to live with the decisions, no matter the amount of criticism that comes from those with less perspective.

It may be hard for some to discern between a cost and an investment.  For instance:
The perspective varies between long-term employees worrying about bonus distributions at the end of the year compared with the new-grad-recent-start who wants to see investment in Information Technology, equipment and updated systems and processes that will make them more efficient, mobile and effective.

I remember the day my CEO predecessor ordered a pile of new computers from Gateway when they shipped them in cow-pattern boxes. It was a visual and an affirmative decision statement sitting in the foyer of the business, saying under his breath, “Hell yes I just bought tens of thousands of dollars worth of computers. We were underinvested and we need to give tools to our talent.” Point well made.

I’ve also witnessed the other end of the spectrum where Chairmen and Board Directors get in the weeds on things they feel strongly about.

Folks,

•That defies good governance

•That ignores role clarity

•That undermines the significance of the established, responsible leader

If those misguided people WANT to run operations, they NEED to get their own damn company to run.

Whether at work or at home, make sure the vision and the actions are aligned. Create a good plan, review the plan often and stick to the plan.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Americans! It’s Tuesday!

Carole and I spent a very quiet Memorial Day weekend at home. We rested, watched TV and made room for our daughter to relocate back to Minneapolis (starting a new job) with as much independence as possible until she finds her space and her place.

I read several Memorial Day notes asking us to remember all of our fallen soldiers and all of the men and women who sacrificed so much (they had me at “Memorial”) so we could enjoy the freedoms we enjoy today.

For instance, on Saturday, my neighbor Pat and his old buddy Bob invited me to go for a ride to a neighboring Harley Dealership for a hog roast. It wasn’t until I pulled up behind them that I realized they both had Vietnam Veteran plates on their bikes. Bob is retired and Pat would like to be…within the year, he figures.

I also realized the high percentage of veteran/bikers out and about that day. I saw tattoos, flags, patches; USN, Semper Fi, Vets helping Vets. My eyes were opened just a little as I was invited into a different view of a common get together with loud pipes, shiny paint, chromed everything, lots of leather, tasty pulled pork sandwiches, a groovin’ band and some very proud Americans celebrating the freedoms that are protected so well:

•The freedom to assemble
•The freedom to say what you want, when ever you want, about whatever you want
•The freedom to travel where you choose to by two wheel, four wheel, 18 wheel or whatever combination suits your fancy

-You can read what you prefer
-Work as hard or as little as you desire
-Wear what you want to wear
-Eat what your body can tolerate
-Worship the savior of your choosing and if you’ve read this blog before, you know I have a strong preference for God

God bless America and every one of the souls who have, are and will protect the finest country on the planet.

I believe we all carry the reciprocated obligation to remember 365 days a year, not just one, how fortunate we are to live here. Be your BEST self…daily …because you can be.

Have a blessed week!

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

There are a few leaders whom I’ve admired for the results they brought forward. I’ve studied the words, the actions and the mindset behind their success. A former colleague introduced me to this saying, an excerpt from a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt “Citizenship in a Republic” given at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910. He said to me, “Michel, this is you in a nutshell.”

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Who comes short again and again…

•Did you know that the most heralded basketball player in history to date, failed to make his high school basketball team? [Michael Jordan]

•Did you know that one of the most intelligent men in the world flunked high school math class? [Albert Einstein]

•Do you know how many failures and setbacks [Abraham Lincoln] suffered through before he became our President?
-he was defeated for Illinois state legislature
-he was defeated for nomination to US Congress
-he was defeated for Senate…twice

As Roosevelt said of him,
If there is not the war, you don’t get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don’t get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name.

Go out this next week and “strive to do the deeds”.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Everybody has scars. What’s funny (sad or ironic funny, not ha ha funny) about human nature is we pretend like ours are much worse than anyone else’s. The old movie clip from JAWS reminds me of the pain shared and the one-up-manship that took place on the boat.

We are no different.

Painful situations create scars and we are shaped by them. The deeper the wound, the harder the lesson, the longer the recovery and the bigger the scar. Then what?
Do you run around pulling up your pants leg to anyone who’ll listen about all the terrible things the world has done to you?
Do you withdraw from situations that look like the one that created the scar you carry?

Andrew Carnegie, one of the most successful entrepreneurs and leaders to live, understood the value of scars. He is said to have surprised an employee who made a significant and costly error rather than telling him, “You’re fired”, he chose to look at the mistake as an investment, knowing full well that employee would never make it again.

Do you learn from the events that created your scars?

Do you see the statue in the marble of the circumstances you are facing?
If you know after toil and sacrifice and scars galore, there is a great work of art (perhaps a coworker’s future in leadership or a vastly improved work environment) do you not chisel away regardless of the scrapes and cuts and callouses?

If you are flailing through life, bouncing around like a pinball in an old arcade game and getting scarred up because you have no intention…stop it! Make deliberate, thoughtful moves and if you accumulate scars, whether physical or emotional, make them purposeful, not folly.

Scars are unique and personal but not rare. How you acknowledge and embrace yours will shape your character, demeanor and disposition.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

This week I found myself in Chicago at the Capital Strategies and M&A Forum hosted by the consulting engineering subject matter experts, Matheson Financial Advisors.

The keynote speaker, Michael Farr, is a regular contributor on most financial cable channels and he came to impart some wisdom on the group. In addition to providing valuable predictions for the next five years in the stock market, he shared a story that transcends the financial world.

In Oklahoma, there once was a remote, Native American tribe who went through leadership transition when the wise old Chief passed away suddenly and they found themselves with a new, very young Chief.

Because it gets cold on their reservation, once harvest was done, they began to gather firewood and they looked to their Chief to tell them how much to gather. The novice gave a conservative response but as soon as they started the process, the young Chief became nervous and uncertain, put gas in the pickup and drove to the nearest town to call the National Weather Service (NWS) to find out how cold it was going to be so he didn’t look like a fool in his new role. The NWS told him indeed it was going to be “cold”. He drove back and told his tribe to collect more wood.
Two weeks passed and he became nervous again so he drove back to town, called the NWS asking again how cold it was going to be that Winter and they increased the severity saying yes, it was going to be “very cold”.
Guarding his reputation, the new Chief repeated the process one more time and fearing the worst, he was told, “Yes! It’s going to be bitter cold this Winter.”

By now, he was frustrated after telling the tribe to tear down all the old buildings and cut up every dead tree for miles and asked the NWS, “How did you arrive at this latest upgrade to the forecast? The response was, “We run our computer models, we monitor wildlife patterns and … this year we noticed the local Native American tribe has collected more wood than they have in decades!”

My questions for you are:
•What does your leadership succession plan look like?
-Are you taking it seriously?

•What contributes to the data you use to make critical decisions?
-How often do you seek a second (or third) opinion?

•How long do you think that tribe continued to follow their new Chief?

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

I went to dinner with an old friend last week with spouses and a friendly fifth. Once we got past the introductions and health concerns, the drink order fulfilled and the food on its way, Gary sprang the question we trade each time we get together, “What book are you reading?”

I’ve said it before, Leaders are readers. Whether it’s the morning news, a bible, a business book or any document that will stretch your thinking, add value to your business, add to your personal library and hopefully find a connection to something you already know or believe or completely contradict what you believe…

We chatted about a couple books and you’ve read about here some I recently referred to like “Emotional Intelligence 2.0”. What escaped me at that time was the book I was listening to. With my wireless, noise canceling headphones (I don’t need as much now that I’m not flying every week), I can absorb the contents …without wearing my glasses.

I need to change my phrase from Leaders are readers to Leaders are learners or Leaders are listeners.

My belief is that you should outfit yourself with multiple modes of learning just like we do with shoes. My cowboy boots would look silly at the beach, my flip flops would be dangerous on my Harley and I prefer not to run in my wingtips.

Prepare for flexibility rather than adhering to a preference that may limit your opportunities (i.e. ever try to read a printed book on a noisy airplane or next to a nosy neighbor?).

So, I’m listening to “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge. The nuggets I’ve mined so far include
•”Desire reveals Design and Design reveals Destiny.” as well as the quote from Henry David Thoreau,
•”The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”

Which inspired me to uncover a couple more Thoreau quotes that spoke to me this week:

•”Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.”

•”Things do not change; we change.”
Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

Have you ever experienced how human nature seems to prefer a definite answer (Now!) more than an accurate one (in due time)?

The first time I remember hearing the term (“it depends”) from a subject matter expert was when I owned a gaggle of snowmobiles and wanted to make sure I didn’t shorten a trip because of poor maintenance. The hyfax serve as a protective barrier between the slide rails and the snow track clips. It normally has snow and ice built up but in poor conditions, they wear out quickly (and are a pain to change out). I asked my favorite parts manager how long they last and he said smugly, almost dismissively, “It depends.” I first thought he was trying to sell me spares for all my sleds. Then he explained himself and I realized if we are in the wrong conditions, i.e. riding fast across a lake with no snow cover, they wear down quickly. Got it.

As leaders, we recognize that the desire for a definitive answer doesn’t mean we should take the bait and fill the request. We have an obligation to leave the decision making window open as long as necessary to take in as much information as possible. There are times when we must push back on the tyranny of the urgent because doing the right thing might mean waiting for all available information to emerge instead of giving in to the impetuous asking for an answer immediately.

If you recall last week, I mentioned a lesson in taking decisive actions…when under fire…when the situation dictated it. The difference between last week’s and this week’s example is … discretion. The leader must exhibit confidence in herself, her sources of information and her influence of the situation and naysayers, thus allowing proper time for good judgement to prevail.

Here are a couple more examples of “it depends”, courtesy of extensive visits to the Mayo Clinic. I’ve taken a proactive approach to my health (ahem-recommended) and looked for ways to improve so I ask questions like “Is my meal regimen acceptable?” (In my head, I’m thinking of Burgess Meredith in Grumpy Old Men eating 5 strips of bacon for breakfast, a bacon sandwich for lunch, a bacon snack…

Here’s what those “flat-bellied” experts will tell you:

“Meat is a treat”

That doesn’t sound like your current diet is fine, eat all the red meat you can find or even half a plate of protein for breakfast and a third plate of protein for lunch and dinner. It sounds like, IT DEPENDS (on how long you intend to live a high quality life).

How much water should I drink?
We all want to know the exact answer, right? The latest answer I received was…

“Pee clear, at least once a day.”

That doesn’t sound like 100 ounces or 12 glasses a day, does it? It sounds like, IT DEPENDS (on what else you ate, drank and did today).

One last tongue-in-cheek example of how the desire for simplification and “I need YOU to fix MY problem right now” is:

Click those links, chuckle a little bit and have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

The military considers it time well served / a career.
For me it’s a subtle reminder I’m growing old.

I was watching the news a couple of nights back and was harkened back TWENTY years ago this week when Grand Forks, ND lost their fight with the flood…and began the restoration process.

“Come Hell and High Water” was the headline of the Grand Forks Herald. Every soul involved in that city during that year and the recovery to follow knows what that means. It impacted what each person regarded as important from that point on:

-Soggy, moldy material items once thought to be of value were heaped as high on the curb as you could stack without machinery.
-Vehicles inundated with water, then heat from the sun bake with windows up tight were scanned and sniffed for that familiar moldy scent for some time following.
-Homes were stripped to the studs because drywall wicked brackish moisture and quickly turned to black mold, a known health hazard.

The University of North Dakota (UND) campus sits on a high spot in the city so the physical plant compound became the Emergency Operations Center for FEMA and the Corps of Engineers.

Since I had been consulting with the campus staff on the electrical system for years, I became the clear choice to work with the campus on multiple projects that year, providing me with leadership growth opportunities. A few significant ones recounted below.

There were temporary Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers being transported from Mississippi that entire year and we created a temporary trailer park with some of those campers for displaced homeowners. I worked with the physical plant director (Leroy-a good man and short term mentor) to sketch a quick design, assemble an estimate, submit an application and get things moving…over a lunch hour.

•Leaders need to make good decisions under fire.

{The contractors total bid for the trailer park project came in within 5% of our literal back of the napkin estimate.}

We were tasked with establishing power to the base of operations for the Army Corp of Engineers. I remember working over the weekend with a skeleton contracting crew and with limited equipment, I had to help pull cable. There are a few times in my career where, as an inspector, working alongside and with the contractor to accomplish tasks was the only option other than walking away and leaving an incomplete project.

•Sometimes you do whatever it takes to finish the job because the greater good dictates action, not policy or rhetoric.

UND is a medical school and the main medical lab had been shut down until electrical service could be safely restored to the building. Working with the systems director (Randy), we waded through floodwater, dark rooms, mold and an unknown environment, including the rooms filled with…cadavers…to get the building operational, including ventilation and refrigeration.

•Leaders find themselves in unpleasant circumstances – maintaining composure isn’t an option, it’s a prerequisite. First responders know this concept well. I had to learn quickly.

At the time, few were willing to regard the events and the ensuing acrimony as a learning opportunity. Today, as I look back, it’s clear to me that I learned valuable leadership lessons during the 1997 flood.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

When looking for inspiration, whether for writing a new blog or for getting up in the morning, I often refer to quotes of proven leaders. Pound for pound the best value for time spent, quotes distill wisdom into bite-sized pieces that pass through my short attention span then expand in my conscious self, looking to pair up answers to “What does that mean to me?” or “How can I relate to that…”

Just last week while trying to convey a thought about urgency of creating and implementing a plan and perfection being the enemy of good, I melded a few quotes to get my point across to a team requiring inspiration without being frozen by a desire to have every detail worked out (often considered paralysis by analysis). A senior leader in the room felt the urge to “correct” my statement…to which I took no offense…until I looked up the actual quotes this week…and they are:

•George S. Patton, Jr. said “A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan executed next week.”

•Vince Lombardi said “Perfection is not attainable but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”

So, since we are quoting the authors verbatim, I would like to convey additional thoughts through these demonstrated and heralded leaders. See if any resonate for you and if I get my point across.

•”Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

•”I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” – Stephen Covey

•”When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” -Henry Ford

•”Strive not to be a success but to be of value.” -Albert Einstein

•”I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou

•”Build your own dreams or someone will hire you to build theirs.” -Farrah Gray

•”The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is mere tenacity.” -Amelia Earhart

So, as I start my next chapter with sword in one hand and shovel in the other, plans in my head and prayers in my heart, I seek another opportunity for leadership, remembering:
•Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. —Publilius Syrus

•The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. —Jim Rohn

•Whatever you are, be a good one. —Abraham Lincoln

•The supreme quality of leadership is integrity. –Dwight Eisenhower

•The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction and the will to carry on. —Walter Lippman

Have a blessed weekend!