Leadership Quote: I Am Part Of All Whom I Have Met….

Leadership Quote: I Am Part Of All Whom I Have Met….

This month’s leadership quote:  I am part of all whom I have met. – Alfred Lord Tennyson.

One of the greatest lessons I have learned since becoming a Vistage Chair is this one. How many times do we as leaders say to ourselves,  “I am different, they are different, that is the reason we cannot communicate.”

What if instead, we asked ourselves the following questions when dealing with a difficult communication challenge:

  • What can I learn about the person I am dealing with that will give me insight into them as a human being?
  • What life experiences do we share?
  • What personality traits, interests, passions do we share?
  • How might what we share, help us to communicate?

Elisa K. Spain

 

When Is It The Leader's Job To Build Creative Confidence?

When Is It The Leader's Job To Build Creative Confidence?

Do you divide your team  into “creatives” and ” practical” people? If so, are you  missing out on the creative ideas of the other half?

If you ask David Kelley, founder of IDEO, and winner of countless innovation awards including Fast Company’s Top 25 Most Innovative companies, he will say yes.

David maintains that human beings are naturally creative and it is fear of judgement that stifles creativity in most of us. He asks, what might happen if we were to overcome that fear of judgement and unleash our creativity? Perhaps the secret lies in what psychologist Albert Bandura calls guided mastery – a process whereby we  identify a fear or phobia and by forcing ourselves to overcome that fear, we release our creative abilities.

How might you as a leader create an environment that enables your employees to build their creative confidence? Perhaps a simple starting place is with more legitimate brainstorming – following the brainstorming rules – no idea is a bad idea!

If you want to take this further, are you willing to expose your team to guided mastery? Sound too touchy-feely for you?

Before jumping to judgement, take a look at this 12 minute TED Video where David tells stories from his legendary design career and his own life, and offers ways to build the confidence to create.

Elisa K. Spain

Another View On Leadership, Is Boring Better??

Another View On Leadership, Is Boring Better??

When discussing the  characteristics of great leaders – words  like inspirational, charismatic, brilliant, innovative often come up.

Boring, on the other hand, is not typically a descriptor of great leaders. Which is why when I saw this article by Joel Stein, entitled Boringness: The Secret to Great Leadership, I paused…

While Joel writes a humor column for TIME Magazine, and therefore one might take his comments to be tongue-in-cheek, he makes some points worth considering.

Here’s a summary of Joel’s observations while preparing for his latest book.

The best leaders tended to be quiet listeners who let others make the decisions. They weren’t particularly charismatic, or funny. They weren’t the toughest guys.  They weren’t driven by a need to be liked or single-mindedly focused with intensity. In short, a bit boring.

On the other hand, the best leaders in Stein’s research were humble, calm, reflective and self-confident. They were passionate about only one thing, the mission of the team. The boring leaders in Stein’s research spent their time helping their teams achieve the mission and giving them feedback on their progress.

Here’s a quote from the article that sums this up well:

“Everyone at Captain Buzz Smith’s  firehouse knows they are doing things exactly right. And that seems to make them both proud and assured. They would do anything for Capt. Smith. Not because they love him — I’m not entirely sure that outside of the firehouse he could inspire them even to switch TV channels — but because his deep belief in his mission makes them also believe in that mission.”

What do you think, is it possible to be a boring leader and a great leader?

Elisa K. Spain

 

Does A Business Have To Grow?

Does A Business Have To Grow?

This is a topic often discussed amongst my Vistage members. Some want to grow, others like the idea of maintaining a controllable size. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. What I do know is that businesses are organic, and therefore static is not sustainable. We’ve all seen businesses disappear over time when the owner was not engaged, unaware of changes in the industry, lost a key employee, a new competitor entered the market with a game changing idea, etc.

If you accept that static is not sustainable, what to do?

If you find that you like the entrepreneur culture, with everyone playing a part in the business, be intentional about it. While you may not want fast growth or a large company, a business has no choice but to continue to evolve and grow, even if it is at a steady pace. If you are in this place, here are my questions for you:

  • Do you have a diversified client base?
  • If not, what steps are you taking to diversify and reduce this risk?
  • Where is your business and your product(s) in the business life cycle? If you are in a mature industry, with mature products, what is your “digital camera” and what are you doing about it? see March 11, 2012 blog, Innovation vs Discipline: Kodak vs Fuji 

If, on the other hand, you have the opportunity to scale and want to, be intentional about that as well. The challenge for many entrepreneurs who want to grow is making that transformation from an “entrepreneur culture” to a professionally managed culture. If you are an owner with a growth plan, here are your questions:

  • Do you want to be the CEO of a professionally managed company? Does the thought give you energy and play to your genius?
  • If you would rather leave the management to someone else, is there someone on your team that could be your COO?
  • Are you open to accepting that your business is going to change and some of the people will have to change as well?
  • Are you willing to invest the time and the money to get there?

Whichever path you choose, make it an intentional one.

Elisa K. Spain