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Good morning fellow leaders and influencers, I hope this note finds you well.
I’m beginning my annual journey to the land of WKRP, Cincinnati, and the Connecting4Community Conference. As I noted last year at this time, I’m enroute to be with my tribe. This conference attracts social entrepreneurs, academics and change agents from around the world. I’m looking forward to seeing people I’ve seen only on Skype or spoken to on Facebook and Twitter in the last year.
My focus question will be how might we use business and economics, and in particular credit unions and other co-operative sector businesses to build healthier and broader communities? For example, are there ways and means that co-operatives might work to create space for dialogue among and between people who do not usually connect with each other? If credit unions are economic engines for communities, what energy might their engines push towards building community between indigenous people and others, between rich and poor, between people of different faiths?
Now I’m not sure I’ll leave the conference with any specific answers to my questions, but it is important that the questions get asked, and I know I’ll learn from the diverse people at the conference?
So that’s what I’m up to, but what does this have to do with leadership? I’ve been thinking this week about our community roles and responsibilities. And I do believe that we do have these responsibilities, as residents, as people who live and work in the neighbourhoods. A healthy and vibrant community is vital for our organization’s very survival. And in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, I’ve been wondering about young people, especially young men being excluded, being on the outside of the community; be that because they have been bullied, because they feel or look different, or because they have a different faith tradition or heritage. I’ve been thinking that people become radicalized at least in part because they are excluded from a place or a culture and then find comfort, companionship and support with other people who have been excluded. (I do appreciate that these are very complex issues, and I am only scratching at the surface). Now that is not to say that the place or culture that they feel excluded from is perfect and they should just assimilate into the dominant culture and then we’d all live happily ever after. Rather that we all might learn from each other. So, how might your organization serve the communities it works in to make it more possible for everyone to appear in public without shame? And/or, inside our organizations or departments, can we create spaces where alternative viewpoints are heard and respected? In your team, are there folks who march to the proverbial different drummer? How included are they? I’m reminded of an old line attributed to Tom Peters, “every 12 person accounting team needs a Dennis Rodman!”
Fit is important to teams, and as important is diversity. What does that look like in your team, and in your community?
Good afternoon fellow leaders and influencers, I hope this note finds you well.
I’ve had the great pleasure of listening to Mary Beth O’Neill’s wonderful book, Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart in my recent travels. And may I just say how much I appreciate audio books!
O’Neill’s work is fundamental, and I remember reading it a few years ago. As is the way of these things, the teacher appears when the student is ready, and while I did enjoy it the first time, this most recent time through has been very inspirational for me. I’ve been struck especially by her work with the phrase “signature presence”. “Signature presence is moving through…moments in a way unique to you, making the most of your own strengths, interests and eccentricities.”
I love this idea. And I’ve seen it at work, as I think about it, countless times with leaders of all shapes and sizes. One colleague and friend has signature presence of a firm had on the tiller; nothing seems to faze him, there is a inexorable forward movement emanating from him, even if we are moving at a snail’s pace, we are moving forward. What has struck me here, based on some concurrent work, is the criticism, ‘well if I’m a loud, aggressive and belligerent leader, that’s just my “signature presence” and so take it or leave it.’
Now, I don’t believe this is what O’Neill has in mind; ‘signature presence’ is not necessarily the same as my default. Nor is it an excuse for inappropriate behaviour. Rather signature presence is something that we uncover from within ourselves. My strength as direct and honest is not the same as my shouting at people to get the work done. My listening attentively is not the same as not being able to make a decision. My sense of humour is not the same as being “flighty.”
Signature presence then is a discovered presence, a sense that I know myself, at least a little. I know my strengths, and can use them to navigate through times of ambiguity, major challenges, others disapproval and my own stress on a more even keel. I may fall off a little, but I know it and know that when it happens I can return quite quickly to my balanced signature presence.
We can build our signature presence by working on four areas. The first, relationship, is about being clear with myself and the other person what this relationship is about; we may be friends for example outside of work, but here at work, you are my boss, and I respect the fact that you have responsibilities here and now given that. Secondly is related, our communications need to be clear, honest and direct; this means that we set boundaries with each other, and we provide feedback that is directive and supportive. Thirdly, we need to focus as best we can on the present moment; what is occurring right here and right now? What you did or did not do to me last week is irrelevant, what my monkey mind may be chattering at me is irrelevant, let’s get focused on the here and now. And the fourth element is the one I alluded to above, an accurate self-knowledge and sense of self worth. This self knowledge is neither inflated nor clothed in false humility. It rather knows that I am good at some things, really good in fact, and in others, I will struggle, and rather than beating my self up about the latter, nor inappropriately inflating the former, I leverage my strengths and find ways of mitigating my weaknesses.
May this week find each of us growing our own signature presence!
Greetings from the air as I travel to Manitoba again this week. This part of the world is still blanketed in snow, and I feel like a messenger of spring after the amazing weekend of sun at home in Vancouver!
This past week has been a holy one for many millions of Jews and Christians, celebrating Passover and Easter respectively. The two holidays are of course inextricably linked, and both, in their own beautiful ways celebrate liberation. And that got me thinking, what does liberation look like through a lens of leadership?
There are a number of possible places to go in exploring the question; we might for example wonder what we mean by liberation, and or what we mean by leadership in this context. Both very important questions. What about if we wondered about the changes we have seen in the last 10- 15 years and the emerging changes coming up? Might they give us a hint that the main focus for leaders in the coming years will be liberating ourselves and each other from arbitrary top down authority and management, and towards how to engage on a more colleague to colleague, association based economy. Moving from I’m the leader because of my time served, or my experience gained competence and more on a shared leadership model where our leaders come out of expertise and knowledge in a particular competence area for a given time under the circumstances. And that lens raises the very important question, what of wisdom? Interesting research highlighted in a recent Ideas program on CBC Radio http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2013/02/27/a-word-to-the-wise-part-1/ notes that ‘selfishness and evil can be included in definitions of intelligence, but not in definitions of wisdom.’ In other words, as we move into a more shared leadership model, we need to find ways and means of honouring wisdom to counteract the risk of a group of simply intelligent humans making very bad decisions. And, the research shows that ‘wisdom’, that is self awareness, compassion for others, and action towards common good is not simply dependent upon chronological age, although that is clearly one way of developing it. Neuroscience is showing that making time for contemplation and meditation will actually increase the brain’s ability to be more self aware, be more compassionate and more likely to choose actions towards the common good. Young or old, we can be wiser, if we choose. And in the emerging economies, we will need as much wisdom as we can muster.
May we each find some time this week for contemplation and meditation to start to increase our individual and collective wisdom.
Good morning from a frosty Winnipeg. I hope all is well in your world. This edition of Leadership Notes is a little late, I’m sorry to say. I’ve been teaching and facilitating all week with some wonderful credit union folks and this is the first time I’ve had to sit and write. It has been a great week!
I’ve been reminded this week about diversity. As wonderfully common we all are as a species, each and every one of us is amazingly individual. We each process the world in our own unique way. According to a podcast I was listening to in the car on my way to Winnipeg yesterday evening, each of us has our own view of reality; put succinctly, you see the tree outside your window in your own unique way because of the individual way your mind processes the information coming to into it. (Check out the podcast from the CBC radio show “Ideas” called Imagination Parts 1 & 2)
And so, very clearly then the people with whom you work do not “get it” in quite the same way you do. There are some cultural commonalities, but what is common sense to you, may in fact not be common sense to the person in the next cubicle or office. A sometime colleague of mine was saying in a meeting late last week that she knows for example that her mind processes first about the wide range of possibilities, then about results, making a decision and getting the job done, and then thinking about the implications on the people affected a rather distant fourth. And by then, often the decision is made and she’s off and running. She then learned that her plan would fall short because of “people” issues. So she learned to put a picture of people in her office in the top right hand corner of her computer screen. It reminded her to think about the people issues earlier in her processing. That got me thinking, what is the picture I’d need in the top right hand corner? For me, it’s about details; I often decide too quickly that the idea is really neat and let’s just go for it, and then find I get bogged down and frustrated by too many details that I haven’t considered in the first place. And so I’m placing an MC Esher picture http://www.mcescher.com/
as the background on my computer to remind me to think about the details. What is the part of the process in your mind that is third or fourth? What image could you place in your workplace that would help you to make better decisions?
May this week find some opportunities to learn more about ourselves and the people with whom we work.
Spring has sprung here in Vancouver! It’s going to be a wonderful day! I hope that even if the weather is not as nice where you are, your hearts are filled with thoughts of renewal and regeneration.
I had a lovely conversation a few of days ago with an actor friend of mine; the second woman I know who has played the part of Lady Macbeth professionally in the Scottish Play. (Old superstitions die hard!) Both of these women tell surprisingly similar stories of portraying the character and its effect on their psyche and soul (in the psychological sense). And both insist that Lady Macbeth is not evil. They uncovered a deep humanity in the character, and it seemed to me that was what makes her so terrifying for anyone in her presence.
I appreciate that for most of us we haven’t seen or thought of the Scottish Play since high school. I do though recommend finding a film version, or even better a production of live theatre, of it. And your ‘homework’ is to “think leadership.” How do you see your own ideas and behaviours around leadership played out or not played out in the story? I can also recommend the work of a teacher of mine from a decade or so ago, Richard Olivier in London, and his work in using Shakespeare’s plays as lenses through which to look at leadership. http://www.oliviermythodrama.com/default.asp
What my friend and I talked about the other day was how in the story Lady Macbeth calls on the ‘spirits’ to “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty.” (Act 1 Sc 5) Most often we interpret this simply on the gender reference, and that her ‘natural feminine’ style would be maternal and caring, just the opposite of “direst cruelty,” and she needs to ‘man up’ to get the job done. I wonder though if we take a cue here and dive a little deeper into the choices we make about forcing ourselves away from our deep, authentic being in order to become what we perceive as successful? Perhaps this is beyond simple sexist thinking that only men can be cruel, or women are just too nice naturally, and more clearly about the lengths to which we go to achieve power, fame and fortune, believing that they will make us happy.
There is an old rabbinic story of the materially successful man who goes to the best tailor in the world for a suit. A few days after his initial measurements are taken he comes back for a fitting. As he pulls the pants on, one leg is shorter. The tailor explains, “oh, don’t worry, if you walk just so, with a bend in your knee it’ll fit perfectly, and so it does. He puts on the jacket and one arm is shorter, and again the tailor explains, “if you bend your arm like this, it’ll fit perfectly”, and so it does. He notices though that it’s tight around the back, and the tailor says, “if you bend your back like this, it’ll fit perfectly.” And so it does. Walking down the street wearing his new suit, two old women walk by him. One says, “look at that poor man, bent out of shape like that”. The other says, “what a great suit he’s got!”
To be the best leader we can be, we must first be authentic, true to ourselves. Trying to make ourselves into something we are not, or wearing a suit that does not fit will only cause us and those around us pain, anguish and more often than not drive us mad.
May this week be filled with being who we are and wearing clothes that fit.
Good morning, I hope this edition of Leadership Notes finds you well. I’ve been sent in a number of different directions on the web this past week, doing research for various projects. The first is Stanford University where they’ve been researching the neurological effects and implications of compassion and altruism http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Ffeed%2FUCzno-z2lWDjrjU9J3Xd-L3Q&h=OAQE_kjPV . And a musician friend sent me to this amazing clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqFc4wriBvE I invite you to have a look at the second link, it’s much shorter (about 4 minutes) and makes the point nicely. The first link is to a collection of clips of academics and researchers that I’m going through slowly in the evening. In a nut shell, the research at Stanford is saying that as a species, we are hard wired to care, to be engaged with each other, to work together as opposed to against each other; co-operation is the key to our survival and not competition. And that of course shows up in the fascinating video of the metronomes in the second link. Have a look; and what you’ll see is 32 metronomes starting at different times and therefore not in ‘sync’ and fairly quickly they begin to move in ‘sync’ with each other.
Now obviously humans are not machines; and yet there appears to be a huge natural push towards synchronization. And from a leadership perspective we might then ask, where is my team at its most synchronized and where are we not. My own sense is that being out of “sync” may not be bad, it is likely part of the journey. And we appear to be hard wired towards some sort of synchronization, each of us doing what we do well, working towards a common goal. What we might need to watch for are people who don’t in fact want to play in our orchestra and rather than trying to bend over backwards to keep them in tune, we ask them to find another orchestra.
May this week find some synchronicity with our teams.