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I’m an introvert, which means I’m more comfortable building energy by being alone rather than in a group.
I used to think that was a disadvantage for me being in a leadership role, or building my networks, or giving presentations. But it in fact it can give me just as many advantages.
I’ve learned how to come to peace with going out and networking. My trick is to realize that every person is someone I can learn from and has an interesting story. Which is actually true most of the time.
Read the rest of this entry »I made a mistake this week. I overloaded someone with so much information that they backed away from a project. It became just too scary for them.
It wasn’t my intention, of course. I was trying to be helpful.
So what do I learn from this situation? Well, it’s not about hiding information. It’s about communicating in layers.
Read the rest of this entry »When you’re dealing with people, things rarely go exactly to plan.
Why is that? Because we’re all imperfect and broken in our own ways. It’s one of the things about being human.
If you’re a leader, you’ve also taken on the role of organizational healer. You may not feel qualified, but this is something you can’t fully outsource.
Because it’s core to leadership.
Read the rest of this entry »There’s nothing which drives employees more nuts than being an unpredictable leader.
Careful! Predictable doesn’t mean boring. It means that your team can learn how you’ll make decisions and what is valued in the organization.
When they feel that you’re just making things up as you go along, that’s what drives them crazy.
Read the rest of this entry »I was part of a great discussion recently about the difficulty with incorporating personal values into the business.
This discussion was about incorporating Christian beliefs, but the same logic applies whenever we’re talking about something which doesn’t have a strong link to the purpose of the business itself. After all, we can agree about the need to treat customers and employees fairly – that’s just great business practice. But your personal beliefs often extend beyond that.
In addition, you might feel constrained in your authority to make decisions if you’re not the company owner. Fair enough. I have some thoughts about that at the end.
Read the rest of this entry »If you started your company, or are the owner, you know what I’m talking about.
You’ve put your heart and soul into this venture, and it’s consumed every waking moment. For years. That passion and commitment has driven you to whatever success you’ve had. And hope to have.
But your team? Well, it seems like it’s just a job to them. You feel like they could walk away at any moment.
Read the rest of this entry »Perhaps it’s time to look at things anew.
This comes to mind, of course, because it’s the start of a new school in the US. But there are other reasons why it might be good to get rid of some of that old stuff which isn’t really serving you anymore.
Perhaps you have a change in leadership. Or have just completed a big project. Or your business cycle just got you past the busy phase.
Read the rest of this entry »We use mirrors all the time to check how we look to the outside world.
My question is: How often do you hold a mirror up to your leadership skills?
As a leader, it’s tough to know how others perceive you. One useful tool is the 360° assessment, where you ask for formal inputs from employees, partners, and those above you in the organization. I’ve even seen those who ask for inputs from customers.
Read the rest of this entry »It’s fire season in Colorado, which gets me thinking about conversations I’ve had with my business clients.
I know that seems like a little bit of a stretch, but let’s explore for a moment.
When disaster happens, our natural instinct is to run away. Get as far away from the danger as fast as possible. With that distance, we’ll have a bit of safety to examine the situation and figure out what to do next.
Read the rest of this entry »Last week I talked about giving in and bringing things to a close. But most of the time we don’t want to do that, right?
We want to be the cheerleader to bring everyone to that wonderful vision of the future. That’s such an important part of your role as leader, to help bring everyone together, align their actions, and help them commit to doing all the hard work.
The challenge may be that the team isn’t emotionally there yet.
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The Values-Based Business 