Tag: Leadership Quote

Leadership Quote: Vision Without Action

July 27, 2014 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

This month’s leadership quote:

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”

-Joel A. Barker

When leaders focus solely on vision and strategy and not on action, put simply, nothing gets done. Successful leaders know that a vision is a destination that their team can rally around. They also know that while the vision is their job, it is a team effort to develop a strategy for getting there.

At the same time, once the vision and strategy are defined, results only happen with implementation. And only succeed with the monitoring and evaluation that follows.

In my experience, leaders who see their only job as generating the big ideas and abdicate their leadership role when it comes to execution are dreaming.

At the same time, action without vision just passes the time. Vision gives us and our teams direction; it enables us to make choices and to focus. Without it, we are only left with activities that may or may not lead to results.

Bring it all together, Vision with action can change the world.

Leadership Quote: We Must Lose Sight Of The Shore…

June 29, 2014 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

This month’s leadership quote:

“We must lose sight of the shore,if we do in fact, hope to discover something new.“

-Gary Belmonti

Today’s quote came from one of my Vistage CEO group founding members. We have been on a transformation journey in this group and Gary is a member of the guiding team. Our group launched nearly eight years ago and most of us have been together for more than half of that time. In the early days, this group went through Bruce Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development and for several years was high performing.

Over the years, we learned that groups, like individuals, can become complacent and develop bad habits. To return to high performing, groups and teams must go through transformation and back through forming, storming, norming and performing.

And, as Gary reminds us, we have to let go of the shore, let go of what is familiar, if we are to discover something new. Transformation is not going back to what was; it is moving forward and discovering what high performing means today.

Leadership Quote: Tell Me And I'll Forget…

May 25, 2014 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

This month’s leadership quote:

“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.“

-Chinese Proverb

We are often reminded that the key to successful leadership is successful delegation. And yet, many of us struggle with making delegation stick. I hear responses, like

It takes too long; I may as well do it myself
I can’t get my team to take ownership
When I delegate, it doesn’t get done right

While there may be other reasons for these results, I wonder if one might be, we are too often telling and showing? And, if we changed that ratio to more involving, if we might see different results?

Here's To The Crazy Ones…

May 11, 2014 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

As my regular readers know, I collect quotes, share them here and on my website. Typically I publish one quote a month, but this month you get a bonus quote.

The last few weeks I have been on the theme about leading change. The quote below from Steve Jobs is a wonderful reminder that ideas only come and change only happens, when someone has the courage to disrupt the status quo.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Steve Jobs

Here’s to the crazy ones! I hope you are one of them and if you aren’t, that you at least have one of them working for you.

Leadership Quote: You Can Tell Whether A Person Is Clever…

April 27, 2014 by Elisa Spain1 Comment

This month’s leadership quote:

“You can tell whether a person is clever by his/her answers. You can tell whether a person is wise by his/her questions.“

-Naguib Mahfouz

In Vistage we chairs encourage our members to stay in a questioning mode. This is probably the most important ingredient in effectively getting to the resolution of an issue and the most difficult to do.

Those of us in leadership roles are accustomed to having the answers. After all, it’s having the answers that got us where we are; we solve problems. So… when we hear a problem, we want to shout out our answers and help the other person (or is it we want them and everyone else to hear how smart we are? Perhaps if we are honest with ourselves, it is a little of both).

Here’s the thing, I think I am smart too. When I bring an issue to the table, first I am a bit uncomfortable, because I am being vulnerable. Second, when you give me answers, I immediately go into objection mode.

If on the other hand, you ask me questions, I can get to the answer myself. Does it take longer than just giving me the answer? Sure for you. Sometimes you can help me by making observations, but don’t solve it for me. That may help you, but it doesn’t help me.

So, as our Vistage speaker, Amy K says, “strive for the better question”. Easy to say, hard to do. Here are a couple of tips I have picked up from Amy that can aid the process:

Write down your question before asking it.
Write down 11 questions, and then pick your best to ask. The act of writing down so many, helps you push for the better question.

And in the moment, when writing the question isn’t practical, listen to yourself. When I catch myself making a statement, instead of asking a question, I will pause and say, “wait, let me rephrase that as a question”.

The Socratic method after all was named for the man viewed as the wisest in the land because of the questions he asked.

Leadership Quote: It Is Only As We Develop Others…

March 30, 2014 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

This month’s leadership quote:

“It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed.”

-Harvey S. Firestone

As leaders, we truly have only one job: to develop others. The success of our organizations rests entirely in the hands of the people who build our products and deliver the service to our customers. So, we have two choices, we build the products and deliver the service ourselves or… we develop the leaders who work for us, and they, in turn, develop their teams.

When we choose the latter, we permanently succeed because we have built a sustainable enterprise.

Leadership Quote: Be Like Water..

February 23, 2014 by Elisa Spain2 Comments

This month’s leadership quote:

“Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.”

-Bruce Lee

When I read this quote at my Vistage Key Executive meeting this month, we had a lively conversation about “what does it mean to be like water?” Here is what we came up with.

Water is infinitely adaptable, when it encounters a boulder, a rock or a dam, it moves around it. Water takes different forms, sometimes, hard and solid, like ice, sometimes fluid, sometimes cold, sometimes warm, sometimes boiling.

If we as humans can be like water, we will know when to simply move around the boulder and find another path; when to be fluid and when to hold firm; when to accept and when to respond; when to boil and when to be warm. In short, be like water and adapt to what life presents us with.

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: We can't solve problems…

January 26, 2014 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

This month’s leadership quote:

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

-Albert Einstein

Typically when we discover a problem, we bring together the same team that was involved when we first launched the new product, new division, new whatever, that led to the problem we are now facing.

What if instead, we asked people who weren’t involved at the beginning to look at the situation and give us questions to consider and offer possible solutions?

Perhaps you can gather a new team to look at the problem with fresh eyes.

Or, consider asking people outside your business.

Each month Vistage members have the opportunity to ask their private advisory board to bring that different kind of thinking to the challenges they face.

Wherever you choose to go when problems arise, it’s that fresh view that leads to better results.

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: Leadership: The Art Of Getting Someone Else To Do Something…

December 22, 2013 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

This month’s leadership quote:

“Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.”

-Dwight D. Eisenhower

As human beings, we tend to choose to lead or follow. The role we choose is function of both our style and our circumstance. Even those of us who are leaders are often in a position where we choose to be followers.

As I stop and reflect on who I have chosen to follow in the past and why, this quote resonates, I did it because I wanted to. Here are my reflections on circumstances where I have chosen to follow, please share yours:

Something the person said inspired me
I observed what they were doing and wanted to learn
The person encouraged me, made me feel that I could do it
By doing it, I would benefit my business or career
I felt there was a “greater good” to be achieved by doing it

I look forward to hearing your stories.

Enjoy the holiday season! See you here on January 5th, 2014.

Elisa K. Spain