YOU ARE PRIVILEGED. BE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE

YOU ARE PRIVILEGED.  HAVE THE GOOD FORM TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE.

I have had just enough privilege to know how easy it is to grow accustomed to it and to forget that most of the people who work for you don't have it.  And to know that it's easier to hang around with people who share the same kind of privilege.  And to know it's easy to begin to think you deserve it more than others and that just maybe you are a little superior.  You know that feeling of boarding First Class.  I know you do.  Suitably humble as you sigh tiredly and by-pass the riff-raff.

I know.  In many ways you paid for all of it.  You have earned the privileges.  But just know that it causes either jealousy or irritation in those that don't have it.  And encourages them to take advantage whenever they can of little privileges.  Little bitty stealing.  Little bitty gossip about you.  Little bitty rage that leads to Unions.  Little bitty exaggerating connection to you.  Little bitty accepting gifts from vendors.

Just remember the thrill (and I choose the word carefully) of your first company car.  Your first private administrator ready to make your life easy.  Your first big, comfy leadership retreat.  Your first ability to adjust your schedule for your personal needs.  Your first huge raise.

Remember to be uncomfortable with it every once in a while.
Because the people around you are.

KEEP IT COMPLEX

KEEP IT COMPLEX.   KEEP IT GRACEFUL.  KEEP IT TAILORED TO THE EXACT DIFFERENTIATING NEEDS OF YOUR BUSINESS.

 I am thinking of a company that has struggled to find the right corporate structure.  Swinging from decentralizion to consolidation and back again.   Changing corporate role from minimal corporate staff as expert support to the operation companies to a  large corporate staff as top bosses telling the operating business what has to be done.  All the while whipping the culture to a frenzy of discontent and disorientation.

 The more demanding the times, the more financial pressure on the company, the more scared the organization is (a totally forbidden concept in business)  the more the temptation will be to head toward a simple answer, to a one size fits all solution sitting at the end of a continuum when complexity resides in the middle--- along with reality.

Keep the urgency, keep the high accountability, keep the momentum forward.  But don't make things simple that are not.  Don't move abruptly.  Don't apply an answer from outside (yes, I mean consultants--use them to implement you own answer.)  Keep it complex, keep it graceful and keep it tailored to your business.

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.