Author: Elisa Spain

Laws Of Success: Perfection Of The Life Or Perfection Of The Work?

March 17, 2013 by Elisa Spain3 Comments

The Choice

The intellect of man is forced to choose
Perfection of the life, or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.
When all that story’s finished, what’s the news?
In luck or out the toil has left its mark:
That old perplexity an empty purse,
Or the day’s vanity, the night’s remorse.

William Butler Yeats, 13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939

I came across this poem in a novel I was reading, and it caused me to pause. Today we constantly talk about achieving balance; we perceive that it is the stress of modern times that creates this challenge. Yet this poem was written in the early 20th century. A reminder that this quest is the human condition, a daily challenge of choice. Here are the questions that come to mind:

Must we choose between success in life and work?
Or is it the search for perfection of one or the other that forces the choice?
Is it possible to simply pursue your passion and not distinguish between what defines “life” and what defines “work”?

Diversity Or Integration, What's The Difference, Why Bother?

March 10, 2013 by Elisa Spain1 Comment

Lately I have had a number of conversations with the leaders I work with about the challenges of adding diversity to their organizations. Diversity comes in several flavors. There are the traditional forms of diversity – gender, race, ethnicity and sexual preference. It also comes when someone from the outside joins an existing culture.

Some organizations handle this “integration” well and some don’t. Why? My sense is the answer lies in how intentional the leader is about both the spoken and unspoken characteristics of their culture.

The word integration is rarely used today. It harkens back to the 1970’s when schools were being “integrated”. Fights broke out, learning became challenging and it was largely viewed in retrospect as an experiment that failed. And, this “experiment” for me provides learning for leaders who want to diversify their organizations.

Integrating- Merriam Webster “to form, coordinate, or blend into a functioning or unified whole”

Isn’t this exactly what we are wanting to do when we diversify? And…Diverse teams are hard…they are harder to build, are unlikely to come to consensus and are more likely to have conflict.

So, why bother? Because… they are harder to build, are unlikely to come to consensus and are more likely to have conflict, they make better decisions. Research studies prove this.

What to do?

Diversity is not always the best approach. Homogeneous groups are easier. Because of their similar backgrounds, preferences and styles they are likely to agree and move forward quickly.

If the goal is getting more of what you already have, then a homogeneous group may be the way to go.
If the goal is innovation and critical thinking, you are more likely to get there with a diverse group.

If you decide you want to build a diverse team, first begin by defining what you are looking to accomplish with the diversity. Then ask yourself the following questions as you begin to form, coordinate, or blend into a functioning or unified whole:

Do I know the backgrounds, preferences, and styles of current team members?
What actions do I need to take to learn this information about my current team?
Have we defined our culture? And, even if we have, what are the unspoken characteristics of our culture?
What actions do I need to take to learn this information about my culture?
What on-boarding actions do I need to take to achieve integration?

Disappearing Jobs, Does It Matter?

March 3, 2013 by Elisa Spain2 Comments

Last month I attended the Vistage International Conference during which Michael Milkin presented the Milkin Institute research on the changing U.S. demographics. I was struck by the data change in the number of unskilled jobs. In 1950 there were 3 unskilled jobs for every 1 skilled job. Today, there are 4 unskilled jobs for every 1 skilled.

Michael postulates that this is the reason why the American dream is dead – it used to be you work hard and you get ahead. Today while hard work still matters, education and skills come first.

In my opinion, this also explains the sticky unemployment numbers. At the same time, my Vistage members tell me finding talented people continues to be challenging. In short there is a war for talent, while millions remain unemployed.

You might ask, so what is the leadership question? Isn’t this a global problem, not a leadership topic?

Here are my leadership related wonderings:

At what point does it become cost effective for companies to create their own educational programs?
When and how will it become cost effective for small/mid-sized companies to provide training via entry level unskilled jobs?
As robots continue to replace workers, what will be the impact on small/mid-sized companies capital requirements?
As the mismatch between job opportunities and qualified employees grows, how might this impact both immigration and emigration?
As the world becomes less dependent on geography, how might employers match their jobs with qualified individuals worldwide?

Leadership Quote: To Succeed, Jump As Quickly At Opportunities…

February 24, 2013 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

This month’s leadership quote:

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions — Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin certainly modeled the prerequisite to living his quote, that is, to stay curious. When we remain curious, we can see the opportunities and avoid jumping to possibly erroneous conclusions. His inventions were all a result of curiosity, trial and error and seizing opportunities.

What might you observe today that merits exploration rather than a conclusion?
What opportunity might be there waiting for you by remaining curious and asking the better questions?

Elisa K.Spain

Is It Possible To Be Too Lean?

February 17, 2013 by Elisa Spain4 Comments

When the “great recession” began, companies got lean and they went there quickly. This worked, for employers, owners and employees. Now 3+ years into recovery, lean continues while sales have grown. The result is increased profits. So….what’s the issue?

I have been hearing a troubling refrain lately. I began hearing this from middle managers in large public companies I work with; and I am now hearing it from small and midsize companies.

Middle Managers say it like this: “My team is exhausted and the workload continues to increase. I am struggling with how to become more efficient than we are and I am seeing signs that we are becoming less effective”.

High Performing employees put it this way: “The saying used to be, the best thing you can do for a high performing employee was terminate a low performing employee. I don’t feel this way anymore. In fact, quite the opposite. When anyone leaves, I groan. I groan, because I know there is going to be more work for me and I am struggling to get the work I already have done”.

As business leaders and owners, I encourage you to ask:

Are my middle managers and high performing employees saying similar things?
Am I listening?
Am I perhaps too lean? What are the risks to production, client servicing, morale and ultimately profitability if I am?

Elisa K. Spain

Laws Of Success: Leadership Lessons From Grandma

February 10, 2013 by Elisa Spain4 Comments

Loved this leadership “poem” written by fellow Vistage chair, Greg Bustin‘s grandmother. She was the leader of her PTA and in going through his family records, Greg found this document that had been typed on his grandmother’s typewriter.

For me she sums up the challenges of leadership rather well,

“The Leader’s Easy Job”

Her job is something like a football in a big game;
First one side has it and then the other:

If she writes a postal, it is too short,
If she sends a letter it’s too long.

If she issues a pamphlet, she is a spendthrift,
If she attempts to safeguard the interests of the association she is trying to run things;
If she does not, she is allowing things to go to the dogs.

If she attends committee meetings, she is intruding,
If she does not, she is a shirker.

If the attendance is slim – well, nobody likes her anyway.
If she tries to help, she is a pest.

If the program is a success, the program committee is praised,
If not, it’s all the president’s fault.

If dues are called for, she is insulting,
If they are not collected, she is to blame.

If she is in a smiling mood, she is frivolous,
If she is serious, she is a sorehead.

If she seeks advice, she is incompetent,
If she does not, she is bull-headed.

If she mixes with the members, she is too familiar,
If she does not, she is too ritzy.

So, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
If others won’t do it, the president must.

Here’s a link to Greg Bustin’s full blog from which this came.

Elisa K. Spain

Laws Of Success: 80% Is Showing Up

February 3, 2013 by Elisa Spain2 Comments

“Eighty percent of success is showing up”, so says Woody Allen.

Sometimes it’s hard to show up when:

we would prefer to be someplace else
we are tired, or not at our best
we have been there before and got nothing out it
it’s out of the way, and it’s snowing
it was a long day at work, and we would rather go home

I am certain we could have a brainstorming session and make a long list of reasons not to show up.

What if, instead, we shared our stories of when we did show up and were surprised by what came from the experience? Here’s a beginning list of a few of my ‘success’ stories:

I was invited to an event, I didn’t want to go because I knew no one. I went anyway and the result was a reconnection with an old friend and a business opportunity.
We were on our way home and my partner suggested we search for a place we heard about. Normally, I would resist, this time I said yes. We had a great experience and unexpectedly, we met the owner of the business who may well become a client.
6 years ago, I was checking references on a prospective executive for a client. I got into conversation with the guy’s boss and ended up meeting him. Turns out he was a Vistage member, encouraged me to become a Chair and gave me the name of his Chair to call. I made the call and the rest, as they say, is history.

What are your stories? Please share your comments.

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: What We Do Today…

January 27, 2013 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

This month’s leadership quote: What we do today, right now, will have an accumulated effect on all our tomorrows. — Alexandra Stoddard

What if we each turned this into an “I” statement? What I do today, right now, will have an accumulated effect on all of my tomorrows…

Here are my questions to consider:

What can I intentionally do today that will have an accumulated effect on my tomorrows?
What about those actions that leave an unintentional wake? What can I do to notice these and prevent their accumulated effect?

Elisa K.Spain

It’s A Dream Until You Write It Down

January 20, 2013 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Today’s blog post is offered by guest blogger Rick Landuyt, Vistage member and CEO of RFIDeas, One of the Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America.

It’s a dream until you write it down, then it becomes a goal.

Stretch goals were explicitly designed to push people to think differently about the tasks at hand. Suppose your revenue in 2012 was 20 million. You want to grow it 10% to 22 million, you tweak your marketing ideas, try to get another big account etc… What if you decided to stretch your goal to 30 million – a 50% increase? How would you do it? As you begin to think about this, you will start to realize the benefits of “stretch goals”. It’s not the new revenue number, it’s the thought process.

An interesting side note, my wife and I had the pleasure of spending 10 days at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. There we were able to meet and talk with several ex-Gold medal winners. The one thing they all had in common was they had written goals that they carried with them every day.

Rick Landuydt, RFIDeas