Leadership Quote: Courage Is Not Limited To The Battlefield

This month’s leadership quote:

“Courage is not limited to the battlefield. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are the inner tests, like enduring pain when the room is empty or standing alone when you’re misunderstood.”

-Charles Swindoll

For me, the leadership lesson here is courage of our convictions. The courage to stand alone as a leader. Those times when you know you are headed in the right direction, but you are feeling resistance along the way. Yet, you continue to lead your team to the goal.

It’s hard. Sometimes the feedback we are hearing is valid and we should change direction. And other times, the feedback is based on fear and we must muster the courage to keep marching.

Both wisdom and courage are required to know the difference.

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain

We Are Bound By What We Know

Ah, the wonder of a child. We hear all the time that all children are creative, all children are artists; and then something happens as adults and we self-select into those who are creative and artistic, and those who are not.

I wonder how much of this is because as adults we are bound by what we know. The more we bring our knowledge and experience to a given circumstance, the more likely we are to miss an opportunity to look with the fresh eyes of a child. On the other hand, knowledge often equals wisdom, the ability to learn from experience and therefore make better choices.

So, how do we know when we are bringing wisdom and when we are bringing limiting beliefs to a given situation? Perhaps these questions can help:

  1. Is what I am about to do something I have done before and if so, is my previous experience relevant?
  2. If it is something new, is my previous experience truly relevant, or is it holding me back?
  3. Am I uncomfortable with taking on something new and therefore looking for knowledge that will justify my discomfort?
  4. What if I suspended judgement and argued for a reason to say yes?
  5. What if I suspended judgement and argued for a reason to say no?

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain

 

Multitasking Isn’t All Bad

Multitasking might reduce productivity but it may also boost creativity. Research shows that at least at this stage of evolution, we humans are less productive when we multitask. Article after article reminds us we actually accomplish less multitasking than if we simply did one thing at a time and saw each task through to completion before starting the next one.

What these articles fail to mention is the impact of multitasking on creativity. Have you ever found that when designing a new product or creating a new program that taking a pause, working on something else and coming back to it actually boosts your creativity? A recent study detailed by David Burkus author of “The Myths of Creativity”, supports this experience.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney and examined three groups of students tasked with completing an “alternate uses” test — a common creativity drill wherein subjects are given an object and asked to come up with as many uses for it as they can.

The first group was given four straight minutes to work on the exercise.

The second group was given two minutes to work on it, then told to work on a different creativity test — namely, they were tasked with coming up with synonyms for a list of words. They were then given two minutes to return to the original test.

The third group was given the same two minutes on — two minutes off — two minutes back on structure. But during the subjects’ two minutes off, rather than taking on a different creative task, were instead given the much more passive activity of completing a survey that asked them about themselves.

When the results came in, they were fairly stark. The first group, the one that worked for four minutes straight, generated an average of 6.9 ideas during the alternative use test. The second group, which took on creative work in between different legs of the alternative use test, generated 7.6. And the final group, which stepped away from creativity tasks for a few minutes, came up with 9.8 ideas.

In short, multi-tasking is not all bad. In fact, in the right circumstance it may actually be good. So, the next time you have a creative project you are working on, go ahead and stop, go do something completely different and more mundane and you may find a creative boost.

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain

Ah, The Power Of Retrospection

As part of the big purge, I had a wonderful realization. Looking back, all that stuff that seemed so important, turns out… really isn’t. If only we, especially as leaders, could see this prospectively.

And, we can. Once again, it is a matter of pausing. Simply stopping and asking the following questions:

  1. Does what I am about to do, need doing? I find this one is particularly important to ask about the stuff that seems urgent, which leads to the second question.
  2. Does what I am about to do, need doing, right now? I find, I must make a case to myself why it’s not urgent or I will just do it. In short, life really is not an emergency.
  3. If it really does need doing, am I the right person to do it? The question isn’t will I do it better, it’s what is the best use of my time. And, if I do delegate it, can I do it with a realistic, rather than a now deadline?

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain