Viewing entries in
#leadership
It was great to celebrate with the students, mentors, and sponsors of Marathon Scholars, this weekend and see the amazing potential that is being realized in these young scholars!
The big thing and the small things. The unexpected and the planned. The new and the old. Don't delay in celebrating all that is great today!
Whether it's little things or big things, people you have known forever or those you have just met - never delay appreciation.
Today was the TedxPortland event where I was joined by 3,000 of my dearest Portland friends and neighbors for an awesome day of learning and inspiration. For more information on the speaker line-up (and details for next year's event) see http://www.tedxportland.com/.
I had several thoughts in summary:
TED events are world views on parade: When you watch a single TED talk, you forget that these speeches are given in succession to people at single or multiple day events, where a wide variety of topics and presenters are put in juxtaposition. This contrast in world view was obvious to me in so many ways. Some saying that most important and earliest memories of our childhood are positive and loving. Others saying that earliest memories were painful or fear-filled. The differing views are there in all of us and it is not common that we hear one after another in such transparency.
Everyone loves Margaret Mead: This American cultural anthropologist had to be quoted a half a dozen times in different speeches in the amazing take-home coffee table book we received.
Words Matter: Not only did the speakers choose their words carefully, but they spent some time talking about words. The importance of not using negative labels and the societal impact of words (like "prostitute," "beauty," "Spirit," "Down Syndrome," or "safe investment"). If words are important, than stories are paramount.
Technology is a Tool(for good and evil): We had speakers that were pro-technology and some that trended towards Luddite, but it was interesting to hear the different perspectives on this theme of technology being useful. But like anything of value, it has a price tag and a payback. There is bad that comes along with the good.
Everyone Does a Part: The fact that the event was entirely volunteer led is impressive. They did an amazing job and put on a professional and far reaching event. Everyone doing their part. There was someone working on space suits in the case of future space colonization (Dr. Cameron Smith from PSU) There is someone working on encouraging children with cancer with music - not curing cancer, just encouraging them in their journey (Jenna Nichols from Children's Cancer Association). There is a role for everyone to play.
Start today!
Plus, it was great to spend the day with friends and to meet some new ones along the way!
You can always find reasons to be more conservative, be smaller, and sit back. But what if you didn't? What do you lose by being bolder? What do you lose by not being bold?
In business and strategy we often talk about the “plan of record.” This is the documented and agreed upon plan against which we might measure results or track our progress. But plans, of record or otherwise, are subject to change. New information, market conditions, changing circumstances should cause us to adjust our plans. A Prussian Field Marshall, by the name of Melmuth Carl Bernard Graf von Moltke, is credited with the statement “No plan survives contact with the enemy,” and oft quoted phrase among those responsible for planning. His actual statement is translated more closely to “No plan of operations extends, with any certainty, beyond the first contact with the main hostile force.” It is the reference to certainty has me thinking.
But even as those plans are being evaluated and course corrections anticipated, it is important to remain clear in our communications. To never let certainty muddy our clarity.
Many writers, poets, and priests have expressed the desire for clarity, when they really wanted was certainty. That a certain course of action would bring them happiness or profit. Certainty about the gender of the unborn baby or the outcome on a battle field. Certainty is grounded in fact and can really only be found in the past (and even that, because of the nature of memory and perception, is unreliable at times). Clarity, however, is in the present.
In his book The Five Temptations of a CEO, author and consultant Patrick Lencioni talks about the importance in clarity even when certainty is elusive. Clarity is clearly communicating direction to the team in a way that removes ambiguity and keeps the organization moving forward. Clarity is clearly communicating with ourselves about what we are doing now, until things change and other decisions are made. In other words, the plan of record.
So, what is your plan of record? What are you driving for today? Focus on that and you will find yourself feeling more clarity and possibly creating more certainty as you gain results. Or you may find evidence that a change is required and you can find clarity in that as well.
Yesterday, I posted some thoughts about trust and then saw this TEDx video in which two talented artists, Jack and Jill Maxwell, combine talents to show us how two faces, four hands, and four feet lead to amazing results when the collaboration is built on mutual trust and respect. Their trust is revealed in their artwork and the dance of expression. It is a great illustration of this revelation of trust in action.
I recently re-read Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Teambusiness fable and was reminded of the foundational importance of trust among a team. His definition is fairly precise and limited to a belief in the intention of the person (not in their ability or capacity), yet it got me thinking about trust in a more general sense.
We often talk about building trust. But I wonder if that is the right metaphor at all. Do we really “build” trust with people? Or is it more that we reveal the trustworthiness of others in our interactions and in their promises made and kept?
Some people can never build (or re-build) our trust and others can’t seem to shake our feelings of goodwill, no matter what they do. This led me to another thought.
Is trust not about the other person, and their trustworthiness, at all, but in our own willingness to be trusting? So, perhaps we don’t build trust at all, but rather we reveal the trust within ourselves.
This picture was taken today of the plant in my office. It is alive and growing. Lots of green leaves. Yet, it certainly doesn't look healthy.
I tweeted today (@jenniferdavis) that it appeared to have gained consciousness and is attempting to leave the confines of the pot. In fact, the leaves appears to be crawling along the carpet to make their escape!
But that is an explanation. And with any explanation, it is only a theory. Others can have other explanations. What do you think is going on?
The only thing that is known is the fact that the plant is bent over.
It is a good thing to remember in other contexts. Make sure that in your effort to diagnose problems, assist others, or be witty, that we don't confuse explanations with facts.
This was a quote from a Star Wars book which is very fitting to a number of situations that people face in life and business. In my experience, it is best to have both: a plan and an attitude of abandon that makes the results possible.
Seems to me there are two kinds of businesses: the first relies on reducing complexity and costs and delivering a simple proposition to customers and the second relies on charging a premium for delivering something unique, special, or otherwise differentiated. The role of the business leader is to pick one.
And maybe Gretchen Rubin was right when she suggested there were two types of people. The type that group people into two types and those who don't.
I read a great blog post by Dan Pink a few years ago on this topic and thought it was worth remembering. This might be a good one to print out and put by your computer or where decisions are made or priorities are set. Watch against activity that feels good and right, but doesn't clearly lead to results or value that your customers perceive.
