Lead, Teach, Succeed
It’s been said that the best leaders are terrific teachers.
So what do the best teachers do to teach so well?
- They create an environment where their students want to be there.
- It’s fun.
- They make learning active.
- They draw on the experience the students already have.
- They get their students to retain knowledge by teaching as they learn.
- They use multiple senses, formats, and modes.
Drowning in the Details
by Alain Hunkins
While leading a seminar on managing managers in lower Manhattan on Tuesday, I was struck by a theme that shows up frequently in my work:
How easy it is to lose sight of the big picture.
Let’s face it, no one shows up to work and thinks,
I’m just going to go ahead and get lost in the details, and forget about the bigger reasons why I actually spend all day doing what I’m doing.
Why Do Smart People Do Dumb Things?
by David Kaisar
Here is an article by Anne Fisher at Fortune Magazine, discussing the proposition, “why do smart people do dumb things,” against the backdrop of Charlie Sheen’s struggles last year. She quotes yours truly, who has done some amazingly dumb things, despite being pretty smart, and as a result, has spent a lot of time working on this proposition, first to help myself, which led to an increasing ability to help others to become the best leaders they could be, despite struggles, failures, and blow-ups.
Delight Should Be…Well, Delightful
by Alain Hunkins
In a recent NY Times article, reporter Steve Lohr shares the lessons learned by those who worked closely with Steve Jobs. The first lesson:
Do Whatever It Takes to Delight Customers
What company doesn’t promise “Customer Satisfaction”? Everyone who wants to stay in business.
But there’s a big gap between what’s promised and what’s delivered. In this day and age, satisfied may not be enough.
Satisfied is a rational decision.
Amazing lecture by Jacqueline Novogratz
by Eivind Skjellum
I was very inspired by this incredible TED talk by Jacqueline Novogratz. Not only is she a wonderful, heart-open and humble woman deeply in tune with humanity’s challenges, but she has the visionary insight that male depression is related to female suffering. For some women, it’s very common today to think and say that men make women suffer because we are evil and uncontrollably violent, little else but walking testosterone bombs who need to be feminized to heal us from our inherent evils.*
The Story Behind the Story
As leaders, it’s often our job to evaluate the work of those that we lead.
In the midst of all to-dos on the list, it’s easy to default to a “one size fits all’ method of evaluation.
You’re busy. It’s easy to lead on auto-pilot, using the methods that are familiar.
When you’re coaching and evaluating, it’s easy to unconsciously climb up the ladder of inference:
- You observe data
- You select data
A vendetta against email
Over at Harvard Business Review, Alexandra Samuel declares a vendetta against email. Specifically, she makes a few very salient points:
“The better I get at filtering and managing my email, the more convinced I am that email overload may be an intractable problem.”
Why is that?
“If you’re getting 10 emails a day, that seems like a manageable volume. What if you’re getting 100? Many of us can, and do, stay on top of that many emails. What if it’s 500? What if it’s 5,000? At some point, the number gets Too Big For One Person.”
Laughter is the Best Medicine
Want to connect with someone?
Make ‘em laugh.
Want to build relationship fast?
Make ‘em laugh.
Want to get someone to follow your lead?
Make ‘em laugh.
Laughter works at a deeper level than words. It connects people at the emotional level.
My friend Bruce was recently driving a van from New England to Colorado.
It was a business trip; he was carting scenic materials for a festival happening in Aspen.
Take back your attention
Category: Men and Health, Men and Money, Men and Shadow, Syndicated
Here is an excellent article by Tony Schwartz, CEO of The Energy Project, at Fast Company, entitled Take Back Your Attention. His main thesis, one that my readers know I subscribe to as well, is that the computer, with email, FaceBook, Google, and a plethora of other fun toys and semi-useful activities, can be a distraction in addition to being a powerful tool. Here are some of the money quotes:
What is Your Brand Against?
by Dave Kaisar
Scott Goodson wrote a great article at Harvard Business Review entitled “What is Your Brand Against.” Great question, since that also helps you to clarify your values and priorities. Here is what my brand is against:
1. Conformity and “fitting in”
2. Trading your soul for “secure job” (it’s a false trade these days, anyway)
3. Letting your email inbox dictate your work for the day
4. Low standards and dreaming small
Set Them Up For Success
by Alain Hunkins
What do good leaders do?
Help their followers succeed.
Simple enough to remember.
Not so easy to execute.
As a leader, what do you put in place so your people succeed?
Do you provide them tools so that they can swim?
If they start to flounder, do you help them?
Or do you criticize and blame them while they gasp for their last lungfuls of air?
The role of coaching in difficult times
by David Kaisar
Francis Marshall has an article in the Training Journal entitled “The role of coaching in difficult times.” Here are some of the highlights:
[C]oaching’s ability to unleash discretionary performance in the individual…when they are inspired to perform to a higher standard simply because they want to
[C]oaching can play a key role in helping people think clearly and remain focused on their objectives
Coaching is also crucial for helping employees maintain motivation
The Tedium of Coaching
by Dave Kaisar
Stuart Walkley presents this article in the Training Journal on”The Tedium of Coaching,” in which he laments
“an industry with a low entry point on qualifications and experiences, no single system of accreditation and with a range from the totally exceptional to the totally inept all under the one word ‘coach,’”
and further mentions that
“often the coaching process drives us through a number of sessions, which appear to have some linear progression leading towards a pre-ordained conclusion. I blame Excel and PowerPoint for this.”
Leaders, Old vs New
by David Kaisar, PhD.
Over at Harvard Business Review, Marshall Goldsmith discusses what he considers the mark of a good leader today, and contrasts it to leaders of the past:
Years ago, when most organizations were based on the hierarchical business model of the Industrial Age, great leaders were those who were unemotional, rational, even mechanistic. Those days are gone. Today’s leader, especially one who is in charge of a dynamic, global organization, finds himself or herself in desperate need of one key trait — self-awareness.
Characteristics of powerful men
by Steve Norcross
When I was a kid, I feared powerful men. Now upon reflection, my fear was based on observations that were real. In the world I grew up in, many men were powerful to the extent that they were dominant if not domineering over members of their families. Their work tended toward the competitive, and their life styles were punctuated by alcohol and a love of high contact sports.
Into the wild
by Johnny Fontaine
During the waning days of summer last year, I was leaving my church’s social ministry office after a few hours of volunteer work. I stood by the front door, looking at the fingerprints smudged across the glass, distracted by the sounds of people talking throughout the lobby.
My eyes noticed a book on a giveaway table, the cover depicting a man running along a great ledge of rocks high on a mountaintop. I read its title. Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul.
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