Zoom Etiquette in the Workplace
I tell you often that Leading Thoughts is about the soft factors in leadership because the soft factors are so often what lead to success or failure. Let me offer an example I hope you never forget. I was with some executives recently who were talking about promoting a man we’ll call Sean. Everyone liked Sean. He’s gone to some stellar schools, he knows his stuff, and he’s produced well thus far. I was staying silent. I was merely consulting in this and I didn’t know Sean. Everyone else did and seemed ready to promote him. Then it happened. One[read more]
Pop the Bubble. Ask Some Questions.
These Leading Thoughts are all about your growth as a leader, so I want to make an assignment that will energize that growth. In fact, it’s a type of assignment I’ve seen lead to stunning change in leaders I’ve known, often taking them to new heights in a relatively short period of time. Here is what I want you to do: between now and the end of July, I want you to ask questions of people you can trust to tell you the truth. These questions will be about you. I’d like for you to choose people who don’t work[read more]
Loyalty in the Workplace
You know your economics and so you already know what I’m about to say. The Marxist critique of the ruling class—he called it the “class which rules”—is that it exploits the workers, that it manipulates political power for its own good, and that it oppresses the lower classes and leaves them mired in misery and lack. Now, I’m the furthest thing from a Marxist, but there is truth here. Unless a nobler set of values prevails, employees can be seen as mere tools in the eyes of owners. The entire enterprise can be conducted for the good of the owners[read more]
Lessons from Rebuilding
In this Leading Thoughts, let me start with a personal story to set up some principles I want to urge on you. In addition to everything else we all dealt with in 2020, Bev and I had another layer. On the last day of February of last year, we learned that our DC home had been steamed. Yes, steamed. The place had to be gutted and rebuilt. That took months. The day we moved back in, we learned that our Nashville home had been flooded. Yes, flooded. The place had to be gutted and rebuilt. That took months. In all,[read more]
What You Hold Too Tightly, You Deform
There is a truth that I urge you to apply to your life, and to also use as a lens through which to view your team. Here it is: What you hold too tightly, you deform. Our leadership roles come with many benefits. There are the titles, the privileges, the recognition, the authority, and usually, the public esteem. There is also the power to do good in the world and to change lives for the better. I have found in my life of leadership that love for my team has played a role and has fueled devotion to my work.[read more]
Multigenerational Businesses
A great many Leading Thoughts readers have asked about how to wisely navigate having family members working in the same firm. So let me tackle this sometimes troubling subject. Leaders of our generation grew up watching television shows like Bonanza or The Big Valley or, more recently, Blue Bloods. These were dramas with family members working in the same professions and sometimes even working in the same organizations. It all looks attractive on TV. It’s much harder in real life. We want it to work, though. It seems like the way it should be. One generation builds something successful. The[read more]
Maxims Keep Emotions in Check
Emotions. We want to experience them. We want to let them soar at times. They are the natural product of all we confront in life. None of us want to be dispassionate stoics, none of us want to be unfeeling or unexpressive souls. Still, in leadership as in life, we cause ourselves trouble when we allow our emotions to rule us. We’ve all known the emotions-dominated teacher or boss or co-worker. Every day brings a new mood, a new outlook on the world. Everyday people around this person are treated in surprising and unpleasant ways. In business matters, when this[read more]
Build a Launch Site
There is a maxim that you have likely heard time and again in these Leading Thoughts. It is at the heart of all I have to say to you and, in fact, it is at the core of my life. Here it is: You have a destiny, but your destiny is fulfilled by investing in the destinies of others. I was consulting with a large charity recently and we were discussing their fundraising. We talked about their philosophy of fundraising, how they tended their donor list, and the events they held to raise both vision and funds. They had met[read more]
Imagination is Fuel
Let me state it plainly. Mental rigidity is death to great leadership. Imagination is fuel to great leadership. I’ve been watching some recent news stories through the lens of this truth and it has been inspiring and disturbing all at the same time. For example, we all saw the news about the United Airlines flight from Denver to Honolulu that suddenly blew an engine. The videos of a destroyed, fiery engine clinging tenuously to the wing of a Boing 777 were horrifying. Yet it occurred to me that UA Flight 328 landed safely because someone—probably many someones—imagined that such a[read more]
Know Thy Stressed Self
Plato tells us that one of Socrates’ central maxims was, “Know thyself.” This is wise for all people, but it is absolutely essential for leaders. Let’s take one particular challenge leaders face to help us see why this is true. Most people are different under stress than they are when at peace. I think this is common knowledge. Yet the leader should not be surprised by who he or she is under stress. Leaders should know who they are in their stressed state and work to make themselves effective in that state. This is vital because all of us have[read more]