A series on leadership — insight two

Recently I thought I had reached a level of wisdom that I could offer thoughts on a number of things in a blog; one of which was Leadership. In my brief overview on the topic, I said this:

Leadership is defined when times are difficult: with vision, decision making, and ownership. This applies to character for that matter.

It struck me that maybe it was impossible to define leadership in a single sentence, and even if I did accurately hit on the three key elements, it’s obviously a very deep subject which warrants more than a sentence. With this in mind, and the need to explore a very important topic further, I thought I’d share some insights from those leaders I have known over the years. I suspect most will fall into what I’ve pointed out as decision making, with vision and ownership being figurative bookends. As I make my way, hopefully I will find something I didn’t pay enough attention to — a reminder that reflection is a powerful tool.

insight two

I remember being informed the Chief Commercial Officer had decided to cut the marketing budget by fifty percent. When asked why the reduction was so drastic, the answer was to drive more innovative thinking and action — his thinking was having less money to work with would force different thinking and actions. There were other things going on at time that influenced his decision, but his point and decision was nonetheless valid.

In a discussion about goals and objectives I heard recently, a leader reenforced she was more interested in what was done opposed to what wasn’t done — the primary message was to drive action, review what was done and learn from it. It should be noted the only thing you learn from inaction is that nothing was done, and that isn’t much of a learning opportunity.

In both these examples, deciding to create an environment (and a culture) to drive action, measure it and learn from it, was the goal.

There is also another consideration to why action is an important indicator of leadership — action is something you can own and as mentioned, ownership is a key component of leadership; whereas inaction reflects nothing, and you can’t really own “nothing”.

ac·tion /ˈakSH(ə)n/ noun : the fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim.

The definition of action itself does a pretty good job of suggesting the decision to drive action may be a crucial part of defining leadership.

iamgpe

PS — We all believe we’re making things happen and getting things done. It is important though to either spend some time with honest reflection or get honest feedback, and then ask the question, “Am I driving action or just keeping busy?”

A series on leadership — insight one

Recently I thought I had reached a level of wisdom that I could offer thoughts on a number of things in a blog; one of which was Leadership. In my brief overview on the topic, I said this:

Leadership is defined when times are difficult: with vision, decision making, and ownership. This applies to character for that matter.

It struck me that maybe it was impossible to define leadership in a single sentence, and even if I did accurately hit on the three key elements, it’s obviously a very deep subject which warrants more than a sentence. With this in mind, and the need to explore a very important topic further, I thought I’d share some insights from those leaders I have known over the years. I suspect most will fall into what I’ve pointed out as decision making, with vision and ownership being figurative bookends. As I make my way, hopefully I will find something I didn’t pay enough attention to — a reminder that reflection is a powerful tool.

insight one

One leader I know has a simple hiring criteria — hire smart people. The thinking is simple; if you surround yourself with smart people, you will build smart teams, and the result is smart things being done. It should be pointed out that “smart people” doesn’t necessarily mean overly educated but rather curious, critical thinkers with the desire to make things happen. He also takes on the responsibility to ensure that the development of people is either up or out of the organization — the growth of an employee is imperative and sometimes means self-selecting out of the organization.

Another leader (and he was old school), once took exception to how another leader was treating some of his people. When the opportunity to catch ride together presented itself he, in no uncertain terms, made it clear that his employees needed to be respected and any issues were to be brought to him. I was not there but I knew the leader personally and can just imagine the choice words that found their way into the conversation.

Hiring good people definitely falls under decision making and is crucial to successfully executing on any vision. Although an employee owns his or her destiny, the leader owns ensuring the employee develops up in the organization or is respectfully exited. Ownership of an employee’s success lies at the very top of the leadership structure and cascades down for continuity; it can take time to build out a team of great employees so when you have it, protect it with everything you have.

The decision to hire and retain good people may be the only real measure of good leadership.

iamgpe

Happy Birthday to me...

Upfront I’d like to say that if you insist on getting me a gift I am truly grateful but you should make a donation to your local food bank instead.

For those who struggle with my age, it’s somewhere between thirty-seven and eighty-four — if you want something more exact it’s probably easier to just pick a number and move on (it’s only just a number). I will admit it’s always nice to receive birthday wishes but I really like this day because it offers a natural moment to reflect. Now that I’ve turned somewhere between thirty-seven and eighty-four, it would make sense to reflect on a life lived (so far). Maybe it’s because I believe I’m at an age that I’ve achieved some semblance of wisdom and wanted to share, or maybe, just maybe, this is a poorly veiled attempt to get some birthday wishes and a donation or two.

Reflections so far:

• There are few greater emotions than a parent’s love for a child — I love you very much sweetie.

• Look after your health. Just assume you aren’t as healthy as you think and step up your game. Health is all about the long game — healthy today is also healthy tomorrow; not so healthy today, is definitely unhealthy tomorrow.

• Protect, cherish and work at your relationships. They are only as good as the effort you put into them — it’s best to surround yourself with diverse, smart, caring and interesting people, and get to know them.

• Leadership is defined when times are difficult: with vision, decision making, and ownership. This applies to character for that matter.

• Be curious and never stop learning — new and different is always better than old and the same. Listen to people, particularly when you don’t agree with what they say. The moment you stop listening and learning is the first step to becoming irrelevant. And irrelevant is a very lonely place to be.

• Nothing is accomplished unless you do something — and the moment you do something is when you will be judged. Experience has shown that many times those who judge don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about (so keep that in mind). Choose your influencers well, because ironically, you need constructive feedback to progress and grow.

And one final thought — Memento mori. One of my trusted influencers reminded me of this the other day when he said, “Don’t waste what little time you have left on things like that.”

It was very good advice. Happy Birthday to me

iamgpe

PS: Yup, I’m a Capricorn