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Archive for December, 2014
Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of December 29th
December 29, 2014 | No Comments »
The Smooth and The Rough
Leadership is a uneven path strewn with victories and defeats, broad avenues and twisting lanes, steep inclines and easy downgrades, dark valleys and sunlit uplands. As leaders we must learn to master both the smooth and the rough. During smooth times, when our team is winning, we must celebrate excellence, give credit where credit’s due, sustain positive momentum, and infuse our people with alacrity and spirit. When times get rough, when we’ve taken some hits and, per chance, lost; this is when true character and heroic leadership must ascend. During gloomy periods leaders must pierce the darkness with rays of renewed energy, a truthful dose of hard reality, and gritty optimism. Leaders must project to their people, in word and deed, this vital sentiment: I have your back in adversity even more so than in good times.
Willpower
That leadership is the blending of thought and action is fundamental. So, what quality distinguishes Heroic leaders in this regard? Willpower. Great leaders are fiercely willing: willing to learn; willing to sacrifice; willing to master themselves; willing to remain resolute against long odds. What is true in leadership is also true in any field of struggle, be that war, sports, or business: victory is usually gained through superior willpower. Too often leaders devote too much time to planning and dreaming and become paralyzed in action. Once a leader is confident in an azimuth of direction, the characteristic most essential to achieving excellence from that point forward is the will to succeed. Leaders, through constant vigilance and willpower, apply great exertion to bend fate towards their chosen trajectory.
History
Reflecting on great leaders from the past is one of the best ways for us to discern the timeless truths and trustworthy patterns of excellence. Though we see in each historical figure a separate and distinct person, we also recognize, in spite of this uniqueness, a common path of development. I have noted before my firm belief that we do not read history to go back in time; rather, we read history to bring its wisdom into us. We read history to pull the lessons of the past into us, but oriented to our modern realities. Leaders must have a deep appreciation for the arc of history, what I call the “grand parade” of time, to correctly see the greater patterns of truth from which excellence emerges. More importantly, today’s leaders should never forget that we study history not simply for its broadening and expanding affect, but also to remind us of this more pressing reality: We are making history, right now, by virtue of our leadership action or inaction.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!
Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of December 22nd
December 22, 2014 | No Comments »
Collateral Benefit or Collateral Damage?
Leadership is influence. The moment one walks into a room with other people, a leadership affect is rendered. The only question at that moment is: What affect? Leaders will, as a function of their self-mastery or lack thereof, create either collateral benefit or collateral damage. Reflect for a moment on great leaders you’ve known. Whenever they moved into leadership action, regardless of circumstance or condition, their affect was always collateral benefit; they made others better and made situations better. Alternatively, think of weak leaders you’ve known. When they enter the exact same room and engage the same people, the affect is collateral damage; people are diminished, the situation becomes worse, the atmosphere becomes toxic, and the future becomes bleak. Great leaders, by virtue of self-mastery, self-regulation, and self-control, consistently create collateral benefit.
Window Dressing
In assessing performance, both personal and organizational, it is tempting for leaders to believe their press clippings instead of honest truths. We can fall prey to “window dressing:” Fancy pretenses that, on the surface, look and feel fine, but upon closer examination, are mere facades to the reality lurking under the surface. Window dressing takes many forms. Individually, leaders can adorn themselves with ornate titles, swank offices, and luxury perks. Organizationally, window dressing manifests as slick advertisements, bloated mission statements, and luxurious equipment. So, what is the problem with window dressing? It almost always operates at the detriment of our integrity—personally and organizationally. Great leaders shun window dressing and focus instead on the window—built on foundational excellence and professional simplicity.
How Leaders Grow
How do leaders grow? I cannot think of a better answer than this: Leaders grow whenever they are thrown outside their current terms of reference and learn to adapt. When we are in our comfort zone of known rhythms and known conditions we settle into leadership auto-pilot. In this comfortable zone our leadership can, and almost always will, plateau. In my life, all of my leadership growth spurts came whenever I was thrown off balance. Life has a way of nudging us out of our comfort zones, calling us to leave home, and it is often these periods of imbalance that become the crucibles hot enough to convert us. When we are thrown outside our known references we are like the aspiring swimmer thrown suddenly into the deep end of the pool; we must grow to first survive, and then, thrive. Leadership development is constant movement between known and unknown. And it is in the unknown, where all reference points are lost and our comfort zone is broken, where we often transform and grow the most.
The Need to be Seen and Heard
Recently I saw a classic photograph of Winston Churchill from WWII. The photo showed him standing atop a pile of rubble during the height of the Nazi blitz on London, surveying the scene with his jaw jutted forward in defiance, cigar clamped tight in his mouth, and his eyes trained forward with resolution. This photo reminded me of this timeless truth: Leaders need to be seen and heard. Most of us will never find ourselves on Churchill’s grand stage. But all leaders, regardless of circumstance, must communicate with those they lead in a way that clarifies, inspires, reassures, and reminds. Real leadership communication cannot be done virtually via email or proxy. Leadership is an affect, and the affect we seek is positive influence. To create unity, momentum, resolve, and esprit, leaders must emerge regularly from their private dwelling, much like Churchill did every day, gather physically with those they lead, and be seen and heard. Yes, Sir; being there matters!
The Unyielding Strength of Dreams
A key quality distinguishing great leaders from average ones is their ability to create a compelling vision: Who we are, where we are headed, and why it is important we go there. Leadership vision is admittedly pure art, and yes, some people are born with this ability, but we all learn to discipline ourselves to become better at this vital capability. Why is vision important? Because of the unyielding strength of dreams! When groups galvanize around a collective dream of who we can become, there is a magic in that alchemy, and it is that magic that defines champions. Reflect for a moment on great champions; sports dynasties, long-enduring Fortune 500 companies, great civilizations or cultures. What they all shared in common, the real catalyst of their supreme excellence–was a dream of what they could become. And the genesis of that collective dream was a leader’s vision from the coach, the CEO, or the Head of State. Think here of John Wooden and his UCLA dynasty as but one example. The “Wizard of Westwood” had a vision of greatness, not merely X’s and O’s. He understood the strength of dreams.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!
Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of December 15th
December 15, 2014 | No Comments »
How You Go Far
The other day I was asked this question by a young leader: “What’s the best way for me to go far as a leader?” After some thought, I answered this way: It isn’t really about how far you go as a leader; it’s about how you go far. The ultimate test of leadership is not the final tally of personal rank, status, or position, or how high up the corporate ladder we climbed. Instead, the ultimate test is the quality and consistency of our character during the entire climb. The best focus for young leaders isn’t the corporate ladder, but rather– the climber. It is far more important to master oneself, developing high character, virtue, purpose, and fortitude, than to focus on the key success nodes along a career path. For me, this distinction is crucial because it rightly distinguishes between success and significance. Success measures how far you go, where significance measures the more supreme metric: How you got there and what you left behind for others. In the end, you aren’t remembered for how far you go, but for how you go far.
Dogged Resolution
When reflecting on great leadership, I can’t think of a single heroic leader who wasn’t doggedly resolute. What this reminds me of, and should inspire us all, is this maxim of leadership: “It isn’t whether you win every battle; it is only important you don’t lose the last battle.” We see this truth borne out in the lives and leadership journeys of Washington, Lincoln, Churchill, Gandhi, King, and a host of others whose lives reflect occasional defeat yet a growing resilience enabling them to ultimately reach the high ground. Like Ernest Shackleton’s epic journey across Antarctica, all leaders will at times become figuratively shipwrecked and be challenged by this critical choice: Do I press ahead or turn back? Fate, in this regard, is not the guarantee of a right decision. Fate is simply the crossroads at which we find ourselves standing at a given moment. The crossroads will reveal our character via our choice. What’s the lesson? The crossroads awaits us all; what we do today, and every day, either strengthens our resolve or weakens it.
The Leader as Drummer
When reflecting on leadership we tend to focus on foreground elements such as, what leaders do. I prefer to focus instead on background elements such as, who leaders are. In this regard, I like to think of great leaders as drummers. Great leaders possess the ability to create a resonant drumbeat from which others first hear the call to action, and then, around which action is transformed into unified purpose. The characteristic of the drumbeat is never tactical nor technical; it is more the texture of perennial knowledge. The rat-tat-tat of the leader’s drum constantly sounds a cadence answering these elementary questions: Who are we? Why do we exist? What do we stand for? Where are we headed and why? For others to march towards the high ground of purpose, leaders must create a compelling drumbeat to call us to intentional action.
Recital and Improvisation
How does one master a craft as complex as leadership? The honest truth is—there’s no exact formula for mastery. Let’s use jazz as a metaphor to describe the elements of self mastery. Initially, an aspiring jazz musician must learn the basics; notes, chords, scales, rhythms, and harmonies. This foundational grounding is necessary because the musician must allow these cornerstones to become second nature. During early development, the focus is on the recital. Energy is poured into reciting back, quite literally, the basics of the craft. However, as time progresses a threshold in mastery must be crossed. The jazz musician must learn how to improvise; to take the foundations and then, through intuitive interpretation, adapt to the requirements of the moment. The same evolution occurs in pursuit of masterful leadership. We start by focusing on the recital, but to become truly heroic leaders, we must master the art of improvisation. Yes, we first learn to read sheet music. But in time and in action, we must learn to improvise masterfully to the needs of the moment.
An Artist’s Eye
Expert leadership is the admixture of detail and big picture. As such, I believe great leaders learn to develop what I call an artist’s eye: They see the beauty of small detail while equally perceiving the whole rendering. Great leaders see the grand end state and never lose sight of the end game, but equally and simultaneously–they possess great intellectual curiosity for detail. Great leaders are fascinated by how things work, why they work, and how they can be made better. Great leaders combine broad strokes and fine lines, enabling them to embrace strategic outcomes while also perfecting the intricate details of execution and performance. Great leaders never lose sight of the inspiration of the big picture, but they also never forget the vitality of small details. We must all learn to develop an artist’s eye and create the leadership brushstrokes, both broad and fine, to blend the top and bottom lines.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!
Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of December 8th
December 8, 2014 | No Comments »
The Power to Choose
Inherent in leading are power and authority. Regardless of rank or position, we naturally accrue the ability to influence—either for the better or the worse. Of all the power inherent in leading, I believe the greatest power, is the power to choose. First, we have the power to choose how we will lead ourselves. Will we seek self mastery and develop the inner discipline to grow and mature? This is a choice of one’s paradigm; will we be uplifting, honorable, and courageous leaders, or negative, toxic, and weak? Second, we have the power to choose how we will lead others. Will we set a powerful example and create a compelling vision that transforms our people from subordinates into self-motivated leaders? Will we gain mastery and then willingly give it away to others through dedicated mentoring? Finally, we have the power to choose our legacy. Will we seek true significance, where we leave behind the foundations for others to follow and our organization to flourish, long after we are gone? There is much latent power in leadership; however, there is no greater power than the power to choose.
The Grand Illusion – Part I
Leadership is one of the most essential capabilities in life yet it remains a truly vexing topic. Google the term “leader” and you get over 500M hits. In a normal year, over 1,000 books and articles are published on leadership. Given this wealth of information, why do so many people still hunger for better leadership? Because we live in a state of grand illusion. Because of society’s demand for easily-won knowledge and our appetite for instant gratification, most leadership products today offer only quick fixes. These self-help gimmicks are grossly ineffective, but more worrisome, they imply leadership can be mastered in short order, reduced to a simple recipe of characteristics, or downloaded like a cheap computer application. This coarsening of leadership, and what it takes to lead masterfully, is a betrayal to both the leader and the led because it fails to instill a proper paradigm. To break the grand illusion, we need a better paradigm—a new leadership lens–which re-orients us to this hard but honest truth: Great leadership comes only via a life-long journey, a demanding crucible, and deep personal transformation.
The Grand Illusion – Part II
Leaders today would do well to reverse the trend of quick fixes and instant gratification and instead slow down, look inward, and by doing so, recapture this most important element to heroic leadership: self mastery. By rediscovering the eternal and immutable truths of leadership, we may then use this “clean lens” to navigate our leadership journeys and strive to become the heroic leaders we are called to be. Personally, I often reflect on the mythic framework of the Hero’s Journey to rediscover and revitalize the concept of the classic Hero. With leadership, like all essential truths, there is nothing really new to discover – but there is plenty to be remembered and relearned. I believe the most important thing we can teach emerging leaders today is a timeless paradigm of leadership, reimagined for today’s modern world, to then rekindle their way of thinking about leading and seeing the world as a leader sees it. For, like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, we will all find, at some point in our respective journeys, our lives demanding an answer to this eternal question: “Are you up to your destiny?”
No Rags to Riches
At times, we mistakenly believe true mastery can happen overnight. We like this romantic image of the rags-to-riches hero. But in reality, there are no rags-to-riches champions. Achieving enduring significance does not follow a simple “wins-only” trajectory. Heroic leaders don’t rise from nothing, are not perfect, nor do they make it alone. Leadership success is ultimately the by-product of a long pattern of development incorporating talent, recognition, practice, preparation, and personal readiness. Moreover, Enduring Significance is achieved by repeating that pattern of success over and over, enabled through unyielding self-discipline. The trials in one’s life, understood correctly, are simply the shaping instruments of one’s destiny. The rags enable the riches…if we let the rags teach us and convert us.
Caretakers
I was watching my neighbor recently as she meticulously cultivated her garden. Her daily routine, executed with great discipline, was clearly a sacred ritual for her. As she pruned and watered, I imagined she was toiling not only for the moment but more so–for a future date when someone else would inherit her garden. She was a caretaker; a wise and devoted master whose commitment went beyond just here and now and focused on passing virtue and excellence to the next generation. And what a great metaphor for heroic leadership. We too tend gardens, only our plots are populated by people and are made of brick and mortar. Leaders are caretakers too, because we are given soil and seeds, with a responsibility to till and nurture growth. Each year we produce a new crop—a cycle of new leaders, production, and performance. But we also have a sacred obligation to ensure this output endures across time. Leaders never really own their organization; they merely take care of it for the next generation.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!
Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of December 1st
December 1, 2014 | No Comments »
Leadership Lullabies
One of the toughest tests of leadership is telling truth from fantasy, especially fantasies centered on our egos and the reputations of our groups. Over a period of time, if we lack truthful feedback mechanisms, we can become sleepwalkers—unquestioningly believing the press clippings about our personal leadership and the performance of our groups. I call this being in a state of “leadership lullabies,” because of the way we can slowly induce such illusions, and more dangerous yet, increasingly destroy any contrarian voices who may awaken us from such a dreamlike slumber. So, how do we avoid leadership lullabies? First, by developing the self-discipline and moral courage to look at our own attitude, behavior, and performance. Leaders must constantly ask themselves: Do I truly live up to the personal standards I set? Second, within our groups, leaders must create clear, candid feedback loops revealing when the real does not align with the ideal. Great leaders possess inner-discipline and moral courage to stay wide awake and, therefore, resist the siren’s call of leadership lullabies.
Reading as Action
Great leadership is the admixture of thought and action. Today, I want to reflect on the latter. Interestingly, as I’ve grown as a leader, I’ve come to view reading as a form of action. I find reading to be an intentional means to hone one’s intellect, remain curious and questioning, and develop a broad understanding of history and historical context needed for wise action. Reading is a leader’s investment in preparing for a future crossroads…a time of destiny we know will come, though we never know exactly the time, circumstances, or conditions of its arrival. Reading keeps one mentally sharp, emotionally engaged, and vitally wrestling with old assumptions and new possibilities. Moreover, reading provides a more truthful personal lens on living and leading, allowing one to possess the discernment to reduce complexity and theory down to their most basic elements. Great leaders read deeply, because they are people of action. We don’t read to go back in time; we read to bring the wisdom of deep time into us.
The Wilderness
A common theme in all heroic lives is a “wilderness” period. In mythic hero tales the wilderness was often a barren place; a desert, a vast ocean, a deep forest, or a high mountain. Understood correctly, this wilderness period in a hero’s development represented a phase of imbalance, loss, or defeat. Odysseus had wilderness periods, but so too did real heroes like Lincoln, Churchill, and Gandhi, to name a few. The wilderness appears at first to be signal defeat. But what we soon learn is the wilderness period is really a chance for conversion and rebirth into a truly great leader. The wilderness provides the crucible–the alchemic fire and pressure needed to transform the hero from the inside, out. The wilderness period is necessary for greatness; it is the essential cauldron needed to unleash the heroic Self. And the lesson for us? Whenever we find ourselves lost or adrift as leaders, we too are in the wilderness, a time of tests and trials. What we do in the wilderness, within ourselves, makes all the difference in our destiny.
Talk Without Speaking
To be a highly effective leader one must speak and do so publically. Our people need to hear us directly, in terms of our vision, ethos, and cornerstone principles of our organizations. What I constantly remind myself of, though, is this fact: Most of the time our communication is done by talking without speaking. What do I mean? Our message is most strongly conveyed through personal modeling and example setting. The greatest delivery system for our message is ourselves—the messenger. Who we are, how we live our lives, how we treat others, and the quality of our inner life are the strongest ambassadors of our message and beliefs. Moreover, how well we personally align with our message will determine, more than any other factor, whether that message is believed, accepted, and embraced by others. Leaders must model, in both action and deed, the core components of their vision, ethos, and virtue. When message and messenger are fully aligned, magic happens. When misaligned, illusion and confusion reign. Great leaders learn to talk without speaking.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!