INTEGRITY HOLDS STEAD OR IT ISN'T INTEGRITY

I want any leader who reads this to be one of integrity, which is not easy.
I'm sure you know how to hold your ground for moral principles and take whatever fallout comes IF only you could be sure of which choice holds the greatest good for the greatest number. And even that guideline can be wrong.
Integrity can be tricky.

Having integrity also means being coherent internally. You have matured and have your own moral compass that rings true over time. You can be leaned into.
People can predict your decisions.  A poll would rate you as "fair". You are not a product of marketing or schmoozing with the right people. You have your own lodestar that guides you regardless of external events. Authenticity can be mistaken for integrity which is why some crude, blunderbuss people can be refreshing in their own way. They ring true, but they are not true.

INTEGRITY CHECK-UP

Can you take some damage to your self-interest for the good of the company?

Do you take time to check on fair hiring and firing process by coming in close as needed?

Would you be peaceful with your discussions and decisions being shared throughout the company (barring the usual insider stuff)?

Do you let pragmatism win over principle and begin to not know the difference?

Is there a leadership principle that if betrayed,  would make you walk away from your job?

Do you realize when you have allowed your principles to be eroded?

What is your personal warning system that tells you to double check your integrity.

Are you the same person on stage and off stage?

Can you state your top three principles for business? Do you teach them?

Do people want to be (not do) better after you have been with them?

Have you had the relief and freedom and achievement from working with a leader of integrity? Lucky you.  Do that.

BLIND SPOTS CAN BE LETHAL!

I started writing this column to fine tune the CEO role on some of the blind spots that develop as leaders move into the top role. I focus on the reminders that make a CEO more effective in all kinds of ways.

But I want to say to those of you in leadership, that some of your blind spots are
lethal when they become a purposeful denial of another person's reality, a refusal to see a different point of view. It makes your job harder to see and understand someone or something you don't like, that you abhor. The need is to see it fully and then base your decisions and actions on a full view of the many sides of any position of stance. Then throw in a bit of compassion for the heck of it, knowing that tolerance does make the world go around. I mean that as a very pragmatic statement.

How to smell your own blind spot?
With great difficulty.

Here are indications:
—You absolutely know know know know know you are right.

—You use the word 'hate" about a group of people or about a topic

—You avoid talking about certain topics of discussion and will not listen except to placate

—You do talk about your hot topic but only with people who agree with you
already. Then you talk incessantly about it.

—You see certain others as fundamentally wrong.

There is great wrong going on in our world. Acknowledging your blind spot doesn't fix everything. It shows you have the beginning of wisdom and the art and difficulty of leading with your eyes wide open

THE ART OF THE DEADLINE

New Year's resolutions brought these thoughts to mind for CEO's.

—You are the gatekeeper of deadlines for your company. Did you know that?
Even when outside pressures seem to make them for you, it it your job to manage the timing of the organizational response.

—Deadlines create organizational stress to perform or relax. You need to 
know which is needed and when.  And YES, relaxation is needed by an organization--breaks, celebration, new learning, vacations, time to literally breathe. And demand is needed as well to propel needed performance. And YOU have to know when and how to make both happen with the right deadlines.

—What if New Year's day came once a week. It could. It's all arbitrary. Why not.
All those new resolutions, hope, and FAILURE.  A constant atmosphere of deadline chaos dilutes company strength and performance. 

—We suffer not so much from multi-tasking as we do from multi-goaling.
Too many goals, too many super tight deadlines (that eventually get moved creating lack of belief in any deadline)

—We tend to mistake 'urgency' for results. I had a son who was high performing in results (grades, sports, etc) but always got low scores in "effort".
When I semi-chastised him (in the name of teachers) he replied, "I think they should give a better grade for working easy. It's a lot harder." Do not think that creating pressure creates better performance. Think about that.

—You should have a map of top company deadlines in your head--your head, not in the project management or enterprise management system only. In fact your top tier should know the deadlines of the total picture and whether they need to be tightened or loosened.

—Setting deadlines is an art. Be aware that you are the ultimate owner of deadline creation. Use this art well.  There is power in it beyond stress and continuous urgency.