Taking Care of Your Business

WEAKNESSES or Strengths: Part 2

What's the best way to grow as a leader? Power up your strengths? Or fix your weaknesses? In the first of this two part series, we focused on a practical way to leverage our strengths, through what I call the "superpower" exercise. Now we turn our attention to the other half of the equation: reducing the trouble you get into from your weaknesses. Instead of doubling down, today's message is all about dialing it back! As one author puts it, growth sometimes requires becoming a "less exaggerated version of yourself." If you're good at completing tasks tune into relationships. If you're adaptable, be more disciplined. If you're good at talking, practice listening.

STRENGTHS or Weaknesses: Part 1

In my CEO peer advisory groups there's an activity I like to do called the "superpower exercise." I invite my members to identify one big win from the last 12 months, and describe how they leveraged one of their superpowers to achieve the win. And then comes the fun part: I ask them to identify another area of their business where they are not leveraging that superpower. The superpower exercise focuses on what's "right" with people rather than what's "wrong" with them. And it encourages them to leverage what's right with their leadership. The competition for talent is going to continue, and one of the best ways to engage employees and managers is to develop them, to help them leverage their own God-given strengths to grow.

A Symphony of Motion

The legendary boat designer, George Pocock, described competitive rowing as an art form, what he called a "symphony of motion." Building successful teams in business--like building a successful rowing crew--is also a form of art. In this podcast you'll learn more about how the peak performance of a highly effective business team is also a symphony of motion, similar to a competitive rowing crew. First, they have a clear understanding of roles. Second, they have great coordination and timing. And finally, they have a strong leader, who knows what the team is capable of, and is able to push them to their limit, without causing them to burn out.

Trust and Leadership

This week I picked up a book entitled "On Becoming a Leader" by Warren Bennis, one of the world's great authorities on leadership. Bennis identified six ingredients of leadership, and one of them--trust--resonates with me, given the times in which we live. In this podcast you'll learn about the six ingredients of great leadership, and why Trust is different from the other five ingredients.

Mulligans

I lead a confidential peer group of non-competing CEOs. At our recent monthly meeting we discussed what each of us would like to take a Mulligan on in our business from the first six months of the year. I like the option of taking a Mulligan not only because I'm an average golfer at best. I also like the idea of thinking about what I wish I could "do over" in my life and my business. Not because I can change what's happened in the past, because I can't. Rather, I like the idea of reflecting on past mistakes in a community of peers so I can make changes and adjustments as I go forward. In this podcast you'll learn about the power of leveraging your Mulligans, whether at home or at work.

”When I’m Listened To, I Can Hear Myself Think”

I recently heard someone describe what it felt like to with their Vistage Chair, who is a great listener. She said, "when my Chair listens to me, I can hear myself think." What a great gift listening is, when it enables the other to hear themselves think. And sometimes that's all they need. I recently came across an article in the Harvard Business Review about the power of listening to inspire people to WANT to make the changes they know they NEED to make. This podcast shares simple, practical ideas for leaders to tap more into the power of listening than telling.

Magnetic Leaders

When I first met Bob, a guy who worked at one of my former companies, I was completely underwhelmed. Over time, I came to understand Bob's super power: people were drawn to him, and wanted to follow him. Magnetic leaders are not always charismatic, but they are really good listeners and communicators. They have an ability to flex their management style, to modify it, because they recognize that in leadership one size does not fit all. They know how to tune into people's values and motivations, to understand what makes them tick. In this podcast learn more about what I learned from a guy named Bob.

Three Tensions Leaders Must Manage

I recently came across an article from SpencerStuart that captured an important dimension of leadership during these times of uncertainty and complexity. And what resonated with me was the idea that leaders need to manage three key tensions to be effective: optimism vs. realism; push vs. pull; and fast vs. slow. The best leaders are nimble as they navigate these tensions, but that's easier said than done. The art of leadership requires: balancing optimism and realism; recognizing when to push team members and when to pull them along; and recognizing when to go fast and when to go slow.
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Seeing Ourselves As Others Do

A business owner colleague of mine said something recently that stopped me in my tracks. "I saw myself as others do. And it blew me away!" My friend had just received feedback about his leadership from an unexpected place, and it opened a window that illuminated something he'd never seen before. This podcast discusses three practical steps to help you identify your blindspots, which are things about us which are obvious to others, but which we are unable to see. The great thing about discovering our blind spots as leaders is that it's a powerful catalyst for growth.

The Business of Making Decisions

Leaders are in the business of making decisions. And for the ones that require team members to support the decision, and implement it, the best leaders take the time to get buy-in. They recognize that sometimes you have to go slow, in order to go fast. In this podcast you'll learn about five decision-making models, and things to keep in mind for each of them. Leaders need to develop their capabilities to use all of these models effectively, as circumstances require. Send me a message on Linked In, if you'd like the description of the five models.