You can't give, sell, tell or threaten your energy into the organization

ARE YOU AFRAID OF FEAR?

You should be but not in the way you might think.
I want you to know and acknowledge when you are afraid---and to not be afraid of that fear.
That way, your unaware fear won't cause you to do goofy stuff.

Now I really do know that leaders are:  (or have to appear to be)
Strong
Confident
Sure-footed
Bold
Decisive
Willingto step forward--get it done--win!!

So you can see that you are programmed to avoid fear.
And yet you probably have some fears such as:
I'm afraid the competition is too far ahead of us.
I'm afraid my top talent isn't as good as I want.
I'm afraid I won't be convincing in the next analyst call.
I'm afraid my business is out of control.
I'm afraid we've committed resources to a strategy that won't produce-----fast enough.
I'm afraid I'm burned out and don't have  new ideas or direction
I'm afraid I don't see the next trajectory for growth

My point is this.
You do have fears.
You are programmed to hide or minimize them.
Examine and sooth those fears before you take major decisions.
Or you will take goofy action like:

Insisting that all your direct reports work in the same geographic location.
Asking for more and more reports and checklists of your people.
Gearing your product to the competition instead of your market.
Handing your company over to outside consultants.
Letting your  public relations spin get out ahead of your reality.
Being appeased by seeing people work hard not smart.
Making exaggerated responses to minor circumstances.

Fear has good insight in it if you let it into your data base.

Where, how and with whom can you dig into fears without being afraid?

WHAT'S THE MAGIC IN "URGENCY"

WHAT'S THE MAGIC IN "URGENCY"?


I have had five clients in one week mention the need for urgency.
In others.
Five top leaders who want to know how to make people who work for them more "urgent".

And we talked as if we knew what we were talking about.
We assumed we did.

Here's what I think we meant: ( and you can bet we will go back at this in our coaching conversations)

Care more.
Feel the accountability for results more.
Be faster.
Have more energy.
Take more initiative.

But I am not sure.
So I am curious and  "chewing my cud" about this.

What does urgency get you as a top leader?
Can you get great results without urgency?
What are three other words you would use for urgency?
Is it your nervous energy you want to appease?
How do you shift energy generation and accountability from you to the company as a whole?
Is the "urgency"need an indicator of your own exhaustion?  (Come on carry this with me people!)
Can urgency be a continuous state in your company culture?

The blindspot here may be this:
When you ask your company for urgency or speed or accountability or results, how have you contributed to this request/demand not happening?

I'll leave you with that.
I'm curious.

ARE YOU BECOMING A CARIACATURE OF YOURSELF???

It happens when your real self  begins to hide behind your public persona.

You'll notice it when you begin to make fun of your own speeches.   "OK going out to the stores to give them the "get it right now, grow it right now" speech.  Fill in your own version.

You'll notice it when you want live up to the spin that you know is spin.  Very different from wanting to live up to the best you want to be.

You'll notice it when you begin to feel slightly like a celebrity instead of just a good old hard working business leader.  In fact if you balked at that wording---then just maybe you're sliding toward cariacture.

You'll notice it when you watch how you are doing in a meeting instead of how your people are doing.
You may be beginning to lead as a facade.

You'll notice it when you dread a public speech as you have to pump yourself up for performance instead of being ready to be real and sincere with your people.

You'll notice it when you are bored or stuck in your business but keep on rah rahing along.

You'll notice it when you, yourself,  don't want to sit with you at a dinner as you press the play button and go into cariacture mode.

Staying fresh and real and honest is tough when you hold the top position.  People are so ready to project things on to you that becoming a cariacture is almost inevitable.  Unless you have 2 or 3  people outside  the organization who tell you their truth, who call you out when you feel phony to them and who laugh when you go pompous.  That takes the courage of real friendship or real professional, non kiss-ass, support.

I hope you have that or a good card board blow-up of yourself smiling and waving.

CHEW YOUR CUD AVOID LEARNING THE SAME LESSON OVER AND OVER

CHEW YOUR CUD --AVOID LEARNING THE SAME LESSON OVER AND OVER

As a top executive leader, you are given so much to chew, swallow and digest in any one day.
Information--gripes among your top team-- a brewing decision that you can't quite make--a budget that
demands constant adjustment and readjustment -- political/economic dynamics --capital intensive projects that may or may not produce the ROI  projected.

I am always amazed at the history and lessons that ARE NOT  learned by an organization or by its top leaders.  The arc and rationale of major decisions are forgotten.  The path of strategy development  is no longer seen.  The accumulation of "fixes/projects is puzzling even to those who created them.  It's almost like the momentum of the organization is running the company, not you--it's top leaders.

Rumination is another word for "chewing your cud"
Rumination means thinking deeply.  Going over an experience and digesting it.
Stepping away from the quick bite of evaluation.
Staying with the thinking until you have integrated it into your values, your point of view.
Looking from a distance at your own behaviour and that of your company.
Step away.  Talk out loud with a trusted colleague who will think with you.  Drive, fly, walk alone.
Sit and stare.
Rumination is good.


CHEW YOUR CUD AND BEGIN TO LEARN  IN A DEEPER WAY TO GROUND YOUR ACTION IN ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY AND EXPERIENCE

TIGHTENING CONTROL? DOUBLE CHECK YOUR TRUST LEVEL

IF YOU FIND YOURSELF TRYING TO TIGHTEN CONTROL OF YOUR COMPANY AS A MULTI-PURPOSE ANSWER, FIRST DOUBLE CHECK YOUR TRUST LEVEL

Do you trust your business strategy?  Are you willing to lean into it and not falter for the foreseeable future?

Do you trust that you have communicated the strategy.  You, not the communication department.  You
Your voice.  Your belief.  Your words.  Your authenticity.  Do you trust that you have massaged it into the DNA of your company through endless conversations big and small?

Do you trust you talent?  Do you have the right people in the right roles.  Do you trust them or are you still testing them?  Do you trust they can succeed?

Do you trust you have the right amount of stretch and support for your top leaders?  Are you stretching their capacity or stretching them beyond capacity without suportive challenge?

Do you trust that you have an accurate view of your company?  Do you probe and listen?  Have you established your intent to talk to anyone about anything?  Do you have formally scheduled but informally run mehods to get the pulse of the organization?

I know that many of your companies are fighting for survival.   And the temptation is to control your business to victory.  I get it.  Just double check your trust level before tightening control.

STAY IN LOVE WITH YOUR BUSINESS

STAY IN LOVE WITH YOUR BUSINESS

Not your company

Not your colleagues (especially not them)

Not your power

Not your perks

Not your status in the community

Not leadership in general

Not organizational theories

Not business trends that offer false hope

Touch it

Know it in detail

Nurture its parts

Accept the human part and bring out the best

Be anxious to get back to it if you have to be away

Be goofily proud of it

Constrain you own ego for it

Don't take it for granted

Make time for it--the real daily grit of  it

Protect it

Be refreshed when you spend time with it.

Follow the old adage for marriages--"Don't go to bed mad."  In other words know something is wrong and fix it before it festers  

Stay in love with your business.