Leadership Quote: Strive Not To Be A Success

This month’s leadership quote:

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”

Albert Einstein

As a Vistage Chair for over 10 years, I have been fortunate to work with many successful people. And to a person, the most successful by their nature, follow Mr. Einstein’s advice. It is part of who we are as human beings to want to add value. Those of us who make this our focus are destined to become successful.

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain

Time To Find Something New?

So many quotes, so many articles written about the value of sticking to something, the value of not giving up, the value of continuing to stay the course even in the face of adversity.

But what about the flip side? What about the importance of recognizing when it is time to find something new?

  • Time for the entrepreneur, who after 5 years doesn’t have traction, to try the next thing. And instead, she shows up every day to try, try try; but it is not fun, perhaps never was, and the results show it.
  • Time for the founder who created something special, had fun when it was small and is no longer working in his genius to move on. Perhaps hire a president, perhaps sell, perhaps even shut down. And instead of moving on, he shows up every day to try, try, try; but it is no longer fun and the results show it.
  • Time for the young professional manager to pause and think about what she really wants from her career. Perhaps, give up managing because it’s not what she likes or move from the safe corporate job to a smaller company where she can have more of an impact. Instead, she shows up every day to try, try, try, but it is increasingly hard to do. It’s not fun and the morale of her team shows it.
  • Time for the mature professional manager to retire. He long ago lost interest in his work, but has no idea what he would do with his time. So instead of figuring out what else may be on the horizon and meeting with a financial planner to understand his financial options, he shows up every day to try, try, try; but it’s not fun, and the results show it.

Is any of this you? Is it time to for you to find something new?

 

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain

Do I Always Have To Negotiate?

This week’s blog post appears on Executive Street Blog. Please click this link to view it.

Every now and then, I have a conversation with one of the leaders I work with who is frustrated with a lack of compliance and accountability in their company. The leader will say something like this: “I told them exactly what I wanted. I explained the reason we needed to do it that way and I am still not seeing the results I want. What is the problem?”

When I point out that perhaps they need to allow folks to weigh in so that they can buy in, I frequently hear a sigh and expressions of more frustration. “Well, that’s just a waste of time,” they might say. Or, “Sometimes I am open to feedback. But sometimes there is a reason I want it done a certain way. I don’t want to waste time in meetings trying to convince everyone to just do it.”

At the other end of the spectrum is the leader who constantly strives for consensus. What I hear from this leader goes something like this: “When I want to implement a change, I ask everyone to weigh in. Then, if there is disagreement, we all meet and discuss it until we agree. If we don’t agree, we don’t do it.”

While there is certainly a place for each of these approaches, there is also a third option: negotiate. The leader who chooses to negotiate begins by understanding where “they” are coming from and what is important to “them,” so that they can turn the discussion into a “we.”

While all three approaches lead to a “yes,” the meaning of that yes can fall anywhere within the following five levels of agreement:

1. Acknowledge the idea
2. See value
3. Buy in
4. Qualified yes
5. Commitment

In my experience, except in an emergency, the first leader I described — the “dictator” — frequently gets only to level 1; thus, the reason for non-compliance. The second leader described — the “consensus builder” — may get to level 2 and 3 occasionally. More often, they either get to the point of watered-down action or no action at all. On the other hand, the third leader — a “true negotiator” — is likely to reach level 5 most often. This approach, like that of the consensus builder, admittedly takes more time at the front end.

Therefore, the questions to ask in each situation are: Is this an emergency? If so, dictate. If this is not an emergency, how important is it to reach true commitment?

 

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain

Vistage CEO Confidence Index Q3: Optimism Inches Upward

Following six consecutive quarterly declines in confidence, CEOs finally recorded a small uptick in how they viewed prospects for the domestic economy as well as their own firm’s prospects. The Vistage CEO Confidence Index stood at 91.4 in the 3rd quarter 2016 survey, up from the three year low of 88.0 in the 2nd quarter, but still shy of the 96.3 recorded in last year’s 3rd quarter survey.

Robust gains in consumer expenditures were reflected in improved sales revenues and profits as well as planned increases in hiring. Uncertainty about future economic policies has made firms more cautious about investment expenditures, although they have not hesitated to add employees to take advantage of relatively strong consumer spending. Indeed, one-third of CEOs reported that finding, hiring, and training employees was their most significant challenge, mentioned twice as frequently as any other issue.

Below are some key highlights from the Q3 2016 Vistage CEO Confidence Index (all members surveyed):

  • 25% of CEOs thought that the economy had improved during the past year, well below the 10-year peak of 63% recorded at the close of 2014.
  • 39% of CEOs plan to increase their investment expenditures in the next year, the fewest firms in more than 3 years.
  • 54% of CEOs plan to expand their workforce in the next year.
  • 69% of CEOs expect increased revenues in the year ahead, and 54% expect increased profits.
  • 47% of CEOs say the new overtime pay rules that take effect at the start of December will impact their employees.
  • 70% of employees work remotely, although most of them for less than 25% of their work time.

For more details Vistage Confidence Index.

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain

Goal Time Again

Each year when the leaves begin to fall, it’s a reminder that we are entering the final quarter of the year. For me, it’s time to take stock of what has happened thus far this year, evaluate how we did against our plan and begin thinking about next year.

The questions I ask are:

  • What would you like to be different in 2017, either professionally or personally?
  • What will you plan to do differently, so that you achieve these different results?
  • How will you hold yourself accountable for these results? Will you write down your goals? Will you carry them around with you as a reminder of your desires?

 

Why Vistage Works

Elisa K. Spain