Leaders Love to Learn

​It is true that leaders are readers.  As Taleb says, only the autodidacts are free.  But it is deeper than that.  A real leader learns from experience.  They notice that less than 20% of performance ratings have anything to do with actual performance.  They might notice that close to 95% of performance rating systems are dismal failures.  They notice, they learn and they take action.  The leader refuses to keep doing the same thing and expecting to get a different result.

Leaders Love Transparency

​If you don't know what you are getting into, there may be a "gotcha" somewhere down the line.  Great leaders eliminate the fine print, literally and metaphorically.  They treat others with respect.  They love transparency.  You know what they stand for and their word is truly their bond.  This is how the most successful businesses operate and this is where the future of leadership is headed.

Leaders Love to Rejuvenate

​The category of rejuvenation is huge.  Without it, we simply are not very effective.  Leaders take their rejuvenation needs seriously.  They get enough sleep, they get silent time and they may read something inspirational first thing in the morning.  They may also schedule a "do nothing day" periodically as our friend Ralph White advises.

Leaders Love to Laugh

Too serious? Laughter is one of the highest things on the planet. There is power in an environment filled with laughter and it is a close cousin of love.

Numerous studies have confirmed that lots of laughter each day is what really keeps the doctor away. The book Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient (Twentieth Anniversary Edition) by Dr. Norman Cousins tells the story of how he recovered from a life threatening illness by applying laughter therapy. He literally watched his favorite funny movies every day for months until his illness disappeared.

Dr. Madan Kataria from India pioneered a practice known as laughter yoga. Every morning, people gather to laugh for 20 minutes (without movies). His book the Inner Spirit of Laughter- 5 Secrets from The Laughing Guru tells the story of this amazing technique.

How can you lighten up your team? How can you have more fun while delivering over the top service?

Leaders Love Collisions

​Collisions are chance meetings where two or more people come together and something meaningful happens.  Leaders love collisions.  They are out and about creating them daily.  Leaders love serendipity too!

Leaders Love Reality

Real leaders run a series of small experiments.  They look at the results.  They adjust or even scrap the idea based upon evidence and feedback from others.  Leaders love reality.  Many non-leaders roll-out huge sweeping changes without any regard as to how it will impact their stakeholders. 

Leaders Love to Close Gaps

​Generally, there is a gap between where you are and where you want to be.  It might be the additional 20lbs.  It might be an additional sale.  It might be that extra step needed to get a project completed.  Whatever it is, the job of the leader (you) is to recognize the gap and then work to close it.  Leaders love to close gaps.  This is actually where the fun shows up.

Leaders Love Training

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
~ Aristotle

The best organizations spend lavishly on training. They know that their mission depends upon it. Training benefits the organization, the individual and the larger society within which they operate.

The best leaders invest extravagantly in their own ongoing program of education and training. They do not wait for permission. They find a way to “always be learning” from books, audiobooks, webinars, masterminds, coaches and courses. The top CEOs we know are learning machines. They set the example for the entire company.

The key of course is to not just attend a course but to put it into action. To implement what you learn as soon as you return to the office (or the field).

How much do you personally invest in your own learning and development? Does your organization have a meaningful program that actively encourages everyone to receive training every year?

Don’t Try to Control the Uncontrollable

Don’t Try to Control the Uncontrollable
~ James Key Lim

In our recent Antifragility Webinar (listen to the excerpts here), one of our special guests was James Key Lim. James is a consultant who spent a long time at Zappos, one of the few companies on the planet known for having a truly world-class culture.

During the webinar, James said something profound (many things) that I’ve been thinking about ever since. He said, “don’t try to control the uncontrollable.” The more I think about this, the more deep it goes. These words of wisdom speak about chaos. He cautions us not to get hung-up on things we cannot control. He even invites us to not only accept chaos but to actively encourage it (if everyone is prepared to do so).

In a very real way, the only thing we really control is ourselves and how we will show up in the world today. If we get that handled, then everything else has a tendency to work itself out. If we can begin to accept the chaotic nature of things, might we one day learn to love it?

Connecting the Head with the Heart

Tears come from the heart and not from the brain.
~ Leonardo da Vinci

Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto) pointed out that the people who study happiness, as a group, tend to look like they are very miserable. We could extend this insight to almost any field. The “experts” understand something at a superficial intellectual level.  That’s as far as it goes. Their knowledge has not traveled into the heart. Their charts and graphs are unable to bridge the gap. They are unable to practice what they preach.

This may account for the fact that most of the breakthroughs in every field have come from regular people who enjoy experimenting on their own (for the sheer fun of it). It may be why only a relatively few companies have a conscious business model despite the fact that conscious businesses are more successful (by every measure) than their competitors.

If we want to move forward, we need to be able to not only talk about something, we need to be able to do it. This requires that we love what we are up to in the world (heart power).

It is Not Joy That Makes Us Grateful

As long as you are breathing, there is more right with you than there is wrong…”
~ Jon Kabat-Zinn

Everyone speaks of gratitude these days but very few have turned it into a practice. Those who have turned it into a practice, like the monk Brother David Steindl-Rast seem to be transformed by this one thing alone. He says, “the root of joy is gratefulness... It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” That is powerful (when we give it a try).

Here is an inspirational video from Brother David to enjoy…

Antifragility Webinar on Organizational Change 2015-09-02 (Audio Excerpts)

Strategy is a dance between "hard" approaches, which set direction, plan, and persevere, and "soft" approaches which sense, respond, and flex.
~ Paul Gibbons

This recording includes a few highlights from the Antifragility webinar we did with Si Alhir and Barry Bettman on the topic of organizational change. It was an amazing discussion with our special guest Paul Gibbons who focuses on science, leadership, philosophy and business. The discussion was extremely content rich. You can subscribe to Paul's blog here.

Enterprise Architecture Antifragility Webinar 2015-08-26 Part 2 (Audio Excerpts)

This is a continuation of the Enterprise Architecture Antifragility Webinar we did with Si Alhir and Barry Bettman. We had an amazing discussion with our group of distinguished panelists:

• Tom Graves, Principal Consultant
• Daniel Horton, Sr. IT Manager
• Jack Hilty, Strategic Enterprise/Business Architect

Even if you are not an IT professional, there are some golden nuggets here! The discussion is all about Antifragility and how to apply it in your life and work. 

For Part 1 of the webinar click here.

Enterprise Architecture Antifragility Webinar 2015-08-26 Part 1 (Aduio Excerpts)

Yesterday, we joined Si Alhir and Barry Bettman for the Enterprise Architecture Antifragility Webinar. We had an amazing discussion with our group of distinguished panelists:

• Tom Graves, Principal Consultant
• Daniel Horton, Sr. IT Manager
• Jack Hilty, Strategic Enterprise/Business Architect

As we mentioned yesterday, even if you are not an IT professional, there will be some interesting insights to be gleaned from this discussion. We should now say, more golden nuggets! The discussion is all about Antifragility and how to apply it in your life and work.

We will post Part 2 of the audio excerpts tomorrow.

Antifragility Webinar: Enterprise Architecture (today)

Join us today, for a free webinar on Enterprise Architecture (Business and Technology) and Antifragility.

Even if you are not an IT professional, there will be some interesting insights to be gleaned from this discussion,  It is all about Antifragility. Our panelists include Tom Graves, Principal Consultant; Daniel Horton, Sr. IT Manager and Jack Hilty, Strategic Enterprise/Business Architect.

To read more about this event, check it out here or to Register Directly go here.

Conscious Leaders and Leadership

One of the hallmarks of a conscious business is that it is led by conscious leaders. As we mentioned on a recent coaching call, conscious leaders are not the “in your face” tyrants that are so common in many businesses these days. Typically, that comes from those who have watched the movie Patton but never actually wore the uniform.

The conscious leader is more like a wise mentor or coach. They practice the art of servant leadership. They are dedicated to the organization’s higher purpose and aligned on the core values. They are typically humble and self-effacing. They understand that they are part of something much bigger than themselves and are grateful to be a part of it.

This is one of the “secrets” of the best companies on the planet. They see that leadership is key. They know that no one is any better than anyone else (although some may have more responsibility).

Is the NY Times Piece Right About Amazon?

We read with much chagrin the NY Times piece about Amazon this weekend (read it here). It painted the online giant as an unconscious tyrant of massive proportions, in league with many old-business-model businesses that have existed for 50 years or more. It was not pretty. Even if 20% of the article is correct, there is cause for grave concern.
 
As a consulting business that is all about conscious business practices, we were jolted by the article. Especially, since we use Amazon as an example of a conscious business on a regular basis. We have discussed it in several meetings and will be monitoring the situation. 

There is a chance that the article was a “hit piece” and distorted the facts. There is a chance that special interest groups being disrupted by Amazon's success are seeking to “get even.” We will do some checking and provide an update as soon as we get more information.