Baggage barricades your future. Leadership baggage includes past:
Disappointment with others.
Unresolved conflict.
Broken relationships.
Personal failure.
Failed plans.
Financial frustrations and business setbacks.
Releasing baggage is like cutting sandbags from balloons. In, “Leadership and the art of the Struggle,” Steven Snyder explains how to see baggage clearly and expose it wisely.
Embracing the struggle enables reinvention.
Glorious space:
Clinging to baggage weighs down, clogs up, and produces victims of persistence.
Refusing to let go empowers baggage
and assures repetition of the past.
Embracing the struggle rather than rejecting it creates space for new opportunities. Listen to Steven and me talking about letting go of my personal baggage (1 min. 34 sec.):
Positive Baggage:
Success seduces and convinces leaders that what worked in the past works today.
Leadership baggage includes success as well as failure.
Frustration over the changing workforce, for example, indicates baggage. The inability to adapt because past strategies don’t work today indicates you’re clinging to the past. Those who learn and adapt rise and reinvent themselves and their leadership.
Longing for the good ole days indicates baggage.
Frustration over the present suggests you’re hanging on to the past. Accepting “what is” enables transformation. Rejecting realities, frustrates.
Bill Gates and Baggage:
Steven Snyder personally watched Bill Gates reinvent his leadership. Early in Microsoft’s history every manager was more technically savvy than their direct reports. That approached worked for ten years.
As Microsoft grew, Bill adapted his leadership model. Microsoft began hiring managers with more management expertise than technical savvy.
Past success didn’t become baggage for Bill Gates.
Steven Snyder on Bill Gates and the inverted hierarchy (2 min. 32 sec.):
Your approach to baggage, both positive and negative, is pivotal to leadership effectiveness, business success, and personal opportunity.
Successful leaders ignite and inspire, they don’t pressure.
They were motivated. Now, they work when you’re around and doze when you’re not. What a difference three months makes.
Coercion, pressure, or rewards may work momentarily. Performance improves while you’re watching and slows when you’re away. Great for control freaks and power-trip-leaders! It makes them feel “important,” even if it’s frustrating.
Pressure and coercion are like water to fire.
The need to pressures or coerce indicates they’re not interested.
“Get past this notion that motivation is something that one person does to another…,” Daniel Pink, author of, Drive, referring to a conversation with Edward Deci.
De-motivation and control:
Feeling controlled de-motivates. Pressure says you’re in control and they aren’t.
How do you feel when someone tries to control you? Do you calmly walk along or dig in your heels? It depends on how much power the controller has and how much you need the job. But, no one enjoys external pressure.
Make people feel powerless and they’ll
act like they’re powerless.
The powerless always resist, eventually.
Five ways to motivate the unmotivated:
Reject the notion that motivation is something you do to others.
Give power don’t take it. Power enables control. Control engages. Feeling controlled disengages.
Put more in if you want more out. Train, develop, and release. Proficiency enable action; incompetence blocks it.
Tap their interests. You don’t have to pressure people to do what interests them.
Connect don’t disconnect. Build relationships. Connecting with others and organizations motivates the unmotivated.
Raving advocates are people who have been most impacted by my work (clients, readers, seminar audiences and business leaders).
Slow:
Joel continued, “I was slow to recognize their appreciation of my work. I would never ask them to share my work with others.”
But now:
Today, I ask them to make connections to opportunities that I would never have been exposed to in the past. As advocates, they value and believe in what I do. By asking them to share my work with others, I’m making them feel valued and providing them with a greater opportunity to make a difference.
Surprises propel into the future or drive into the past.
Problem is, surprise signals uncertainty. Organizations hate uncertainty. Extraordinary leaders realize surprise is a catalyst not an enemy. Reject surprises to your own peril.
Surprise energizes innovation.
I asked the “expert on surprise,” Soren Kaplan, “If you could start over, knowing what you know today, what would you do.”
Soren replied:
Embrace uncertainty rather than fight it.
Use the natural paradoxes of life as a source of creativity.
Seek out surprises to challenge assumptions.
Never settle for incrementalism but rather always go for the breakthrough.”
Soren’s response helps me understand why organizations like Cisco, Colgate, Disney, Medtronic, and Visa consult with him.
Incrementalism or breakthrough:
I think breakthroughs are often the result of a series of incremental advances. But Soren said, “Never settle for incrementalism.” I called him to explore.
Soren doesn’t reject the power of incremental advances. He imagines, however, a life of maximum impact. He dreams of making a big difference, of breaking through.
Seek:
Seek breakthroughs. Don’t wait for them to find you.
You may see breakthroughs coming. It’s more likely they’ll surprise you. One morning you’ll shield your eyes from their awkward glare.
Whether you see breakthroughs coming or they surprise you, seek them.
Embrace uncertainty.
Use paradoxes.
Seek surprises.
Never settle for incrementalism.
Sadly, breakthrough moments are missed because you don’t seek them or you don’t see them when they arrive.
Breakthroughs happen when:
Frustration outweighs satisfaction.
Someone believes in you more than you believe in yourself.
Fresh eyes observe stale attitudes.
Someone courageously names the elephant in the room.
“The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” William Pollard
10 reasons leaders fail:
Stop learning.
Don’t build the team.
Can’t collaborate.
Won’t adapt.
Won’t delegate.
Assume.
Blame.
Lack focus.
Don’t communicate.
Don’t plan.
Adapted from contributions on Facebook (10/16/12). See more.
Learning from failure:
I talked with Alan Wurtzel, former CEO of the now defunct Circuit City Stores, Inc., yesterday. (From more than 500 stores and 10 billion in sales to nothing.) He’s also the son of the founder, Sam Wurtzel.
Jim Collins chose Circuit City Stores, Inc. as a “great” company in, “Good to Great.” What happened?
Alan’s book, “Good to Great to Gone,” is his personal journey to make sense of what went wrong. Its part history, part explanation, and most importantly, filled with powerful leadership lessons. I loved reading it.
Plus one:
Arrogance is the main reason leaders fail.
You could say there are many reasons leaders fail. I’ll say arrogance is behind most. How many of the 10 reasons listed above are expressions of arrogance?
Circuit City thrived when its leadership acted humbly and died because of pride. Wurtzel didn’t say that, I am. You might suggest they failed to adapt. I’ll say pride prevents leaders from adapting. Arrogance destroys.
Four Symptoms of leadership arrogance:
Focusing on short-term success.
Over concern about the opinion of others. Arrogant leaders are controlled by public opinion. Fear, not confidence, drives arrogant leaders.
Unwillingness to admit mistakes; lying to save face.
Blaming rather than taking responsibility.
Five powerful words from Wurtzel:
“I may not be right.”
Wurtzel’s five simple words answer arrogance. The greatest power of humility is it makes room for doubt. The most deadly power of pride is it prevents it.
How can leaders address the challenge of arrogance?
How have you seen arrogance hurt organizations and leaders?
Peter grew up in a strict household that powerfully affected his choices. Peter said, “I have a great dad but he was controlling and not always in a good way.”
Taking charge:
“Many choices I made weren’t mine.
I was making someone else happy. Peter Aceto
Peter explained that his marriage was a catalyst for challenging control. He ended up giving his dad an ultimatum. “It was a real challenge. I have a difficult relationship with dad.”
Helping others take charge:
I wondered if Peter’s past made him a controlling leader so I asked, realizing controlling people don’t think they’re controlling. Peter said, “Just the opposite. I value independence. I never want to be controlling.”
He’s been formed but not conformed by his past.
What does independence look like in growing organizations? Peter explained that information is central to independence “I share as much information as possible as frequently as possible with as many as possible. I ask our leaders to share with their followers.”
“Information enables others to make
better decisions rather than me
making decisions for them.” Peter Aceto
Too many secrets:
Peter’s comments remind me how secretive organizations:
Paralyze progress.
Create and propagate inequities.
Encourage negative speculations.
Manipulate employees.
Open communication:
Create communication systems – predictable, systematic channels for sharing information.
When in doubt, get it out. Err on the side of openness within legal and ethical guidelines.
Expect people to use information as tools for efficiency and effectiveness.
Close the communication loop with listening and feedback. Excellence demands feedback.
Life tipped for Peter Aceto when he figured out who he was. His comfort with open communication indicates he’s comfortable with himself.
How can leaders create channels of systematic communication?
What hinders open communication within organizations?
They determined the single most important thing about leadership is the ability to take risks. If you can’t take risks you can’t lead.
What happened next angered Alyse Nelson, President and CEO of Vital Voices. The group of high-level leaders from around the world said women don’t take risks.
Bold but different:
Nelson composed a list of female leaders she knew and determined they were risk-adept. The group was dead wrong. She writes in her book, Vital Voices:
“Risk is necessary for transformative change…”
“…We have found that contrary to gender stereotypes, women are incredibly risk-adept. However, … they take risks in very different ways from men.”
Nelson suggests female leaders take calculated risks:
In response to need, as opposed to aggressive risks in response to opportunity.
To improve the lives of others.
Out of necessity when their backs are against the wall.
They feel power to make impact.
Under the radar rather than publicly.
“Women take risks when there’s an opportunity for community good.” Alyse Nelson
Personal observation:
Male leaders tended to take risks publicly and expect others to be inspired by their boldness. It works for the short-term. On the other hand, collaborative-boldness builds alliances that stabilize risk-taking and sustain long-term impact. Build risk-taking-alliances in private before going public.
How have you seen women lead with boldness?
How is female boldness different from male boldness?
Note: This post deals in generalities. This isn’t an all or nothing conversation. However, if men and women are the same, diversity loses its advantage.
Leaders rise above “what is” to imagine “what could be.”
Defining leadership:
“Leadership is causing the realization of a future that wasn’t going to happen anyway. Leaders say, ‘It could be different’,” Ron Kaufman author of, Uplifting Service.
The result of leadership is things are different. Ron would say there’s an “uplifting outcome.”
During our conversation Ron said, “Leaders …
Look at things differently.
Propose new ways.
Remove roadblocks.
Sustain enthusiasm. There is always wear and tear along the way. Who is the spark plug?”
Getting to “different”:
I asked Ron to tell me something that changed his life and he told me about leaving the U.S. during his Junior year of college to organize Frisbee tournaments overseas. When I explored it with him, he said, “I became open to new experiences.”
Being open:
Openness to new experiences enables leaders to see things differently (See #1 above).
Ron explained two expressions of openness:
Listening to whatever someone is saying. Their background of concerns constitutes who they are.
Accepting wherever they are coming from.
“The execution of leadership begins with the led not the leader – understand and appreciate others. Get in synch before offering suggestions.”
Power:
Power to change is built on the power of understanding.
Ron said, “Once you understand and appreciate others you have the opportunity to design a future that wasn’t going to happen anyway. How can you uplift – show possibility – and call them into action given who they are?”
Ron’s philosophy of life and leadership falls under one big umbrella, “We are here to bring value to others.” He reminded me the power of leadership is shifting from you to them.
How do you get to different?
How is understanding others a component of getting to others?
People make mistakes; sometimes big ones. Leaders and managers usually don’t like mistakes.
Michael Hyatt gave me his version of fail fast, yesterday, “The faster we fail the faster we learn.” The potential benefit of failure doesn’t mean, however, that we intentionally seek or enjoy it.
It’s one thing when you fail;
it’s another when your team members fail.
When team members screw up:
You’re responsible even though you didn’t do it. Embarrassment!
It costs money. Frustration!
Efficiency falls. Disappointment!
Michael Hyatt on dealing with the mistakes of others:
“Create distance between the failure and how you feel; if you’re tired, stressed, or angry, wait.”
Michael’s comments reminded me of something a corporate executive recently told me when I shared my frustrations regarding the performance of a leader. “Dan, everything you just said was about you.” KaPow! Dang that stung.
Frustration makes us focus on ourselves.
Don’t deal with the failure of others until you can do it with their best interests in mind; create distance first so you can connect later.
Hyatt went on to say, “The first issue isn’t mistakes but ownership. People who own their mistakes learn and grow.”
People who don’t own their mistakes blame and excuse. In this case, leaders deal with blaming before dealing with mistakes.
Ownership says, “We’re in this together.” Blame says, “It’s not my fault.” Deal with blaming before dealing with mistakes.
The biggest mistake is making an excuse or blaming someone else.
How do you deal with the mistakes of others?
Michael Hyatt just released his new book, “Platform.” It’s must reading for anyone with something to say or sell. It’s the most practical book on Social Media I’ve read.
Buy “Platform” by May 25, 2012 and enjoy over $375 worth of bonus benefits.
People who change the world are like everyone else except they do something. They are moms, dads, men, women, young, old, rich, or poor. Some are educated – some not. Race isn’t the issue, either.
People who change the world all begin at the same point – the point where you may be today. “They all seemed to start out as critics,” Beverly Schwartz, author of, “Rippling.”
You’ll never change anything until you’re displeased with something. All leaders change things but the dark side of change is distress, disappointment, disgust, dissatisfaction, and displeasure.
The power of criticism is you become like the critic you listen to. People who change the world say, “…Yes to themselves.” Schwartz. The courage to change things begins with the courage to not like things.
People who change the world always do the next thing. “They took the next step and did something…” Rippling.
4 qualities you need:
Schwartz says people who change the world, … All, at a minimum, possessed four inherent qualities:
Purpose allows inspiration to replace fear with action.
Passion kindles and nourishes a “follow ones heart” courage.
Patterns that become models and guides for others to follow.
Participation by others who believe, follow, and join. They think boldy, act locally, and scale globally. They possess “ego-limiting ownership” that gives place to others.
The steps to changing the world begin with saying yes to yourself and move to gathering participants.
Rippling:
Beverly Schwartz, in Rippling, has explained and illustrated the path all leaders follow to effect radical change. My favorite parts of the book are the beginning and end where Beverly lays out the qualities and strategies for effecting change.
What are the qualities of the change agents you know?
