Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

Is it September already?! As I board yet another flight in pursuit of the next stage of my life, I have an opportunity to reflect…something I took little time to do up to this point.
We seem to be at an incredible inflection point in history and on a global scale: Politics, economy, technology, demography, and social unrest. Some recent examples include…

Politics-
The latest indication is that Congress has enough votes to pass the Iran nuclear deal. This is substantial, in my opinion very negative, but is going to change the landscape of the world politic.
The clamoring of candidates vying for their party endorsement is as colorful as it has been in quite some time with no standouts from a positive perspective I can think of. Just a long road to empty promises bad behavior and ultimately mediocre leadership.

Economy-
Wild, super-roller coaster-like swings in global markets have created fear beyond reason and the smallest of relative issues are enough to tip a fragile, stale recovery. We should question the quality of measurements as indicators when unemployment falls to an “acceptable” level only after the calculation methods changed. How do we account for the disengaged? The disenfranchised? The underemployed? Why are we comfortable with the trend of so many young, recent and well educated citizens retreating back to their parents home to work far below their potential?
How many times do you remind yourself that this is the greatest country on the planet?…and is it in an attempt to convince yourself things are good or to privately ask, “is this as good as it gets?”

Technology-
Apple has been living up to its Vision of putting a dent in the universe. The way we “do” is substantially different than it was one, five, or ten years ago. A lot of good … and a lot of distraction. The “dent” includes a shift in wealth, a shift in focus, a shift in control and a shift in values. Isn’t it significant that the inventor and force behind so many changes to computing, music, entertainment, communication, data flow, privacy, and health was aware of and protective of how his own family consumed the products he inspired? Technical-enabled interruptions are encroaching on our discretionary time to the point we struggle to socialize at an intellectual level.

Demographics-
Do you understand what’s happening with world population projections, both increases and decreases? How about rural to urban migration? Maybe you don’t concern yourself with those things but they will affect you and the people you leave behind. The ramifications are enormous. While boarding, I noticed a young, adopted Chinese girl with her new Mom getting ready to fly to Beijing. The young girl clearly brought joy to her new family but it was a reminder of the Chinese policy to limit the number of children a family was allowed to raise combined with a gender preference has disrupted natural order.

Social Unrest-
All Lives matter.
The law is the law.

Criminals require punishment to maintain social order. I just returned from Houston this week where seeing gigantic flags flying at half staff make you wonder how long before they start getting flown upside down (symbolizing a nation in dire distress)? If your family member is affected, your passion toward the subject is undeniable but why should it take that level of direct involvement to understand and believe it? Isn’t it reasonable to assume that laws are in place to maintain public safety? Isn’t it also reasonable that if you choose to ignore those very same laws, either complying with or enforcing them, that there will be disorder and unrest? We vote, thereby hire and appoint, representation who we believe, or are led to believe, will carry out the duties of the office they expressed a desire to serve in. This stands for every level of service.

There are a number of conclusions that could be drawn from this small collection of facts and opinion-

1.The rate of change is rapidly increasing.

Prepare yourself for more change.

2. Quantity (more data, more information, more communication, more people, more work, more expectation…more noise) carries with it no guarantee that quality will be maintained. I believe we are awash with distraction today, as much as we can ‘afford’, and it feels as if we are steadily compromising our integrity or exchanging it for the shallowness of the latest sound bite.

Use discretion and be protective of what you feed your brain with.

3. Capitalism is losing ground to socialistic tendencies. We have real-time examples of how unrealistic the expectations can grow (Greece) regarding how much work is required to sustain an economy.

Always do what is required to leave things better than you found them.

4. Finally, God created all of us. How do you think it makes him feel when we treat each other poorly. From conception to death, compassion and understanding and tolerance and self control are the only real options.

Love thy neighbor.

Have a blessed Labor Day weekend.

Good Morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

Great leaders are great communicators. One of the more challenging issues leaders face is absorbing a tremendous amount of complicated data and transforming it into an effectively articulated assessment. You’re trying to paint a picture in the mind of your audience or today it better be a high-definition, Youtube like video that lasts no more than 6.5 seconds-the new human attention span, a full second and a half lower than a goldfish.

Enter the Metaphor

* I heard an effective one today that stuck with me regarding the economy:
The current U.S. economic situation was described by a CNBC contributor as “a guy walking his dog”. Marching straight down the path with the dog stretching out the leash. The guy is the economy and the dog is the stock market. What he didn’t say but I quickly pictured was a dog wandering back and forth along the path, number 1 over here, number 2 over there, wag its tail at you, bark when you don’t want it to, lay down when it’s tired and eat your lunch if you’re careless where you put it. I suppose you could even envision that your portfolio manager should be Cesar Millan (the dog whisperer).

* Another recent example was overheard from a life coach suggesting someone was “stepping on their own spiritual garden hose”

*Winston Churchill used them…in one of his most famous quotes, he said, “We are all worms, but I do believe I am a glow-worm.”

From economics to spiritual journeys to self-evaluation,
What better way
To say
What you’re trying to convey…

Have a blessed weekend.

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

Pastor Joel Johnson from Westwood community church in Chanhassen, wrapping up the Summer series on “Getting the Love thing right” said last Sunday in his sermon, real love is real hard. I do prefer to have expectations set early in a process and I am drawn to a challenge. Apparently that is why the phrase caught my ear and inspired me to investigate it further.

I started by reminding myself of the Fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5 (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). There is no law against these. So why would any of these be real hard? I thought about it a little more and came up with some examples…

You’re driving from the airport and you get cut off by a driver who is in more of a hurry than you are. For extra measure, they convey their displeasure with you in gesture and in words even the least perceptive could lip read. My first impulse would be to reciprocate. But [through love] instead, you say in your car,
“Why, I ought to [pray for] you! and
“God [bless] you!”
Real love IS real hard.

Winston Churchill, faced with an impending world war, described his love for country and inspired his countrymen this way, “I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.”
Real love is real HARD.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Can you imagine willingly giving up your one and only child knowing that they would suffer beyond imagination and then die a humiliating death?
Real love is REAL hard.

Whether it’s converting your first impulse on the streets in your community, a country leader inspiring effort of epic proportions to save his country from tyranny or God sacrificing his only child to save the souls of all people who have faith-real love includes humility and commitment and sacrifice.

There is not enough love in this world. It’s a lot of work to turn your heart outward, rather than allow it to turn inward. We’ve all been hurt, disappointed, frustrated, damaged and broken. We can probably recite comments made or recount incidents where we’ve been wronged. Repeating that vignette in our subconscious multiple times a day. Holding onto the pain is human…but it only festers and creates more pain and spreads like a virus. I heard a friend say the other day, “Nature hates a void, Eric” and the worlds tendency is to fill it with garbage, if we let it.

Real love forgives-this allows you to move forward rather than being stuck in a rut of self pity and a broken record of ‘did you see what “they” just did to me’

Real love follows the lead put forth in Galatians:
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Real love is unconditional-no matter what happens, no matter how illogical, no matter how imperceptible, loving others the same way God first loved us is possible, but it is real hard.

I understand better what pastor Joel meant.

How can you add real love to the world you live in?

Volunteer at a local charitable organization?
Toss in a few more dollars in the offering plate?
Maybe it’s as simple as thanking someone for doing something they are supposed to do/get paid to do/have been assigned.

No matter what you consider, do it with a giving heart and start recording over that sad story in your head with positive, Fruit-of-the-Spirit type messages.

Have a blessed weekend.

Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

Wednesday night, my wife Carole, our younger son Zach and I took in a major league baseball game at Target field. We had the traditional peanuts and Cracker Jacks, along with beer, brats, hot dogs, cheese curds, water and (just in case) candy. Since we normally only get to one game a year, it’s important to sample one of everything we can stomach over a four hour period.

This was the third of three consecutive nights Zach freed up for us so we could dine, converse and just enjoy each other’s company. It was hot, muggy, kind of crowded and … probably one the most enjoyable evenings I’ve had in Minneapolis in years (and I guess the Twins won, too).

I fought back the urge to blurt out a thousand questions in the first hour of the first night on how he was doing; getting enough sleep, eating right, exercising regularly, staying engaged at work, etc. Because I’m not on Facebook, I can’t just catch up through social media, but I truly care and enjoyed hearing it from him. The best part was having him share stories and ask questions back about how things are going with Mom and Dad. I think our youngest has hit adulthood.

This blog is primarily about leadership but not just about what a leader shows up like at work. Virtually every leader I sit down with prefers to talk about what is near and dear to them – their family.
Why do we work so hard?
*Is it money?
*Is it recognition?
*Is it security?

Or,
Could it be that deep down, we want to provide the best possible environment where they can grow up to lead successful, meaningful, purposeful lives that add value to this world and possibly some day be blessed enough to share those lessons with their own children?

The most important leadership position I can think of is that of a parent. It is the most exhausting (especially in the early years), the most challenging (especially in the teenage years), and the most rewarding, every time I reflect on them, but even more so now that we can see them as adults and thank God we didn’t do something so irreversibly wrong that they couldn’t grow out of it.

My career goals have varied over the years depending on where I was in life and where I wanted to be. However, my parental goals have been simple and consistent.
*I want to be available to them at any time for any reason.
*I want to openly express my love for them.

Have a blessed weekend!

Good Morning, Leaders!  It’s Friday!

I firmly believe that one of the false pretenses we face today is that this world is meant to be good, fair, and reconcilable…and anyone who decides otherwise must be a fatalist.

In a very recent conversation with one of my pastors, we hashed over some of the qualities of leadership-caliber character, including humility. Followers perceive this quality to be an important aspect of someone they would listen to. I agree.

Another redeemable quality is Integrity. Dr Henry Cloud, in his book on the subject describes the kind of character that:
1. Creates and maintains trust
2. Is able to see and face reality
3. Works in a way that brings results
4. Embraces negative realities and solves them
5. Causes growth and increase
6. Achieves transcendence and meaning in life

I think courage is another quality that people can get behind but I’m not just talking about David (from David and Goliath) – type courage, I’m thinking about those who understand the world is broken but have the courage to persevere without succumbing to the multiple trappings this world offers to self-medicate and endure. I’m talking about the courage to inspire, to trudge through the muck knowing full well there is no oasis on the other side but persist because it is their duty…in a “Saving Private Ryan” sort of way.

If humility, integrity and courage were the three primary characteristics of your leader where they listened before speaking, they gave and kept their word and displayed unflappable commitment to the primary mission of your organization despite the circumstances or the consequences…I’d call that a solid leader.

Leaders are all around us well beyond title or position description. Leaders come in all shapes, sizes, age, nation of origin, religion, or gender. If you are a leader, be a better one AND give an aspiring leader a boost. If you hope to become a leader, the list above is not a bad place to start.

If you’re not sure where you stand or don’t know what you’re next step is…start with the sage advice bestowed on me rather early in life – Lead, follow or get your butt out of the way!

Have a blessed weekend.

Good morning, World!  It’s Friday!

It’s 4 am, the light goes on and I hear
“Honey, are you ready to get it on?”…

Not that many years ago, I’d be sound asleep at 4 in the morning and hearing something like that would either prompt me to think I’m dreaming or would quickly wake me up and command my full attention.

Today, 4 is about the time I answer Mother Nature’s call and sadly, I know that my lovely wife is referring to the anti-anxiety garment (Thunder Shirt) the dog needs put on to keep it from freaking out and keeping both of us awake with the passing thunder storm.
[sigh]

What a delicate balance there is to communicating effectively and efficiently. The proper choice of words to achieve full understanding is critical. If you drone on and on to clarify your point, you’ll likely lose even the most interested person. Your audience has a collective attention span that may be quite low (if it exists at all) and pays more attention to body language and tone of voice – so how do you capture and keep someone’s attention?

I’d start with
*content
*clarity
*compassionate tone

How do you know whether they comprehended what you said?

One of the first rules I’ve learned is to ask them to repeat it back in their own words. It will seem awkward and cumbersome at first but the practice may save both parties frustration (or embarrassment).

Now, you can go back to sleep since the dog has been taken care of.

…huh?

Have a blessed weekend.

Good morning, World! It’s Friday!

On a recent trip to Seattle (panoramic view to the West from Century Link field to the Space Needle), I was privileged to find a well-experienced tour guide to walk me through the site of a $3.1B public works project using a boring machine dubbed Bertha.
She is in the media, she is contentious, she has many partners and she is currently laid up getting a new set of “teeth” (pictured below with two highly influential decision makers who are working against a tight time schedule, a vicious media and logistical challenges) to ease congestion in one of the more restricted traffic regions in the country.

I marvel at the innovation, the size, and the scope of this project. What struck me during the entire tour was how many obstacles they’ve been through already (political, media, language -due to the global reach of capabilities encompassed in this joint venture- to name a few) and how great this project will be when its completed. The vast majority of people who will benefit from it have no comprehension of what’s going on here.

It reminded me of my behind the scenes tour of Freedom Tower in New York a couple of years ago and the incredible amount of work and time that went into the associated projects below ground. Out of sight, out of mind? I really want to believe we, as a nation, are not so shallow that we quickly forget the substantial value of infrastructure improvements and hope we don’t jump on the Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) train as soon as we are temporarily inconvenienced.

We came for a long weekend to visit our daughter and the Friday evening news had a special on Bertha and in the same newscast the traffic report said it would take 2.5+ hours to get from the NE portion of Seattle to the SW portion of the metro. This project seeks to reduce congestion and frustration and to give back time to commuters. What is the quality of life improvement worth to them? How many places do you know of where you can buy time? I, for one, hate sitting still in traffic.

Designers and builders that seek to improve public safety and add to the quality of life that we subsequently enjoy should be heralded as heroes, not scapegoats. Anything from flipping a light switch to turning on the faucet to making a cell call, driving to work, jumping on a plane, train or ferry is possible because of the amazing people who work tirelessly to design, build and maintain a first-world-country expectation.

I had goosebumps walking through the completed portion of the tunnel as well as the machine itself. The equipment, the people and the collective mission is nothing short of amazing. I can’t wait to see this finished product.

More information can be acquired at @BerthaDigsSR99 or http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Viaduct

Have a blessed weekend!

Good morning, World! It’s Friday!

It has been my experience over the first fifty years of my time on earth that care comes in many different forms, i.e.

*It has been said regarding leadership that “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”.

*I heard an economic development director for the region we once lived say to a group of residents, “I believe I care more about this community than most of you do!” Whether true or not, it sparked a response to step up efforts or get out of the way.

*I recently spent an afternoon with a long-time leader in my industry who said, “Eric you told me last year that you don’t do ‘warm and fuzzy’ (well).” He went on to say, “I’m here to tell you that I said something similar over 20 years ago and now most in my company would say that I am the most ‘warm and fuzzy’ guy here.”

Hmmmm

We’ve all likely heard that you should – “Never judge a book by its cover”.

I believe that a leader has a primary responsibility to guide, direct, navigate and influence by what the industry, company and individual needs for the short, mid, and long term…not to be swayed by what people want at the moment. Short-sighted decision making leads to less than optimal outcomes and severely disappointed stakeholders.
-Smile for a day and cry for a lifetime seems tragic and irresponsible, doesn’t it?

The challenge seems to come when communicating difficult messages on longer-term, deeply complex and challenging issues and the vast majority of the audience immediately turns their attention inward (human nature, perhaps) wondering…

What’s in it for me?
or
How will this impact my career, bank account, free time, relationships…comfort?

…maybe even before they’ve heard the decision making process. In absence of the time it takes to explain all the information absorbed and assessments made, there must be trust. Trust that leadership cares about the right things and when all things are considered, they arrive at the best possible outcome for all affected parties.

I recently saw a video clip of a national presenter talking about a highly successful (decade long, double-digit annual growth and high employee satisfaction) bank in Georgia, crediting their success to “Love”. The presenter said he interviewed many employees who talked about taking full accountability for their actions and no tolerance for excuses. When the bank CEO was confronted with the feedback, without missing a beat and before even making eye contact, he retorted (remember to read this with your best Southern drawl), “I never said it wasn’t TOUGH love.”

The path of least resistance doesn’t come up on my internal GPS. Scanning the environment is in my DNA and the good Lord blessed me with the resolve and resilience to back up the decision to consistently take the high road.

I’ve already packed a lunch for the next trek. Are you ready to join me?

Have a blessed weekend.

Good morning, World! It’s Friday!

Pictured is the “Mighty Mack” bridge in Michigan built decades ago for just under $100 million (back when $100 million was a big number). I took the picture on our way back from our recent trip to Mackinac Island.  The cost is no longer remarkable but the purpose for and functionality of the bridge still is.

So, how does this relate to leadership?

An old friend, fellow engineer, executive coach and author Mel Nelson uses this bridge as a metaphor to explain what he believes are key principles of leadership. In his book, “Building Bridges: Today’s Decisions-Gateway to Your Future”, Mel describes the four basic components of this bridge; cable anchorages, footings/towers, suspension cables, and spans/road deck and how they relate to strategy, values, leadership and relationships. It’s a quality read that helps one visualize this iconic structure and how effective planning and design of any nature, whether physical, career or personal employing key leadership principles – in the proper relational construct – will provide long-term value.

As with any substantial structure like this one, there are a thousand stories of challenges overcome, economic benefits gained, and wonders realized that spark the imagination with “what ifs” and “why nots”:

*Connecting the upper and lower peninsula of Michigan

* Discovering the ability to fly

* Exploring space

*Designing, building and dispersing a personal communication device in everyone’s hand-with the power of a computer and an ability to connect across the globe

We are limited only by our imagination and our will to pursue it.

What bridge (physical, emotional, virtual, relational or otherwise) are you currently working on?

Have a blessed weekend.

Good morning, World! It’s Friday! (and the observed Independence Day holiday.)

I was in our nation’s Capitol on a mentoring mission in April and spent a little time at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History where I saw our nation’s Betsy Ross original in all its glory. Songs were written about that flag that still inspire us to think about how fortunate we are to live in the greatest country on earth.

This last week Carole and I peeked outside of the U.S. on a little milestone anniversary trip where we crossed into Canada on our way to Niagara Falls. Our navigation took us across the border but it did feel different, changing the speedometer settings to metric, fueling up at a gas station or grabbing a sandwich- it was subtle but enough to make me slightly uncomfortable and miss the comforts of home.

Over this expanded weekend, you’ll likely participate in a barbecue or watch some fireworks, maybe set some off, or wear some red, white and/or blue and hopefully … relax.

Letting your guard down seems so easy and so natural but it was only a little over two centuries ago where we didn’t have that luxury of saying what we thought, driving where we prefer, earning as much as we aspire to, worshiping to our belief or taking a little break without fear of unwarranted retribution.

We enjoy a tremendous number of freedoms today in this country. As you celebrate this weekend, pause for a moment to reflect on how fortunate we are, how hard fought our freedom was originally won and the number of times in this country’s short life we’ve had to defend it. Thank an armed forces member for their service and sacrifice on this Independence Day weekend.

Have a blessed weekend.