Leadership Edge – the insatiable appetite for increasing knowledge and perspective

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Great leaders balance confidence and conviction with a zeal to learn and a willingness to revisit and reconsider.  To accomplish this requires a deep comfort with diversity – to seek experiences and perspectives beyond what is most familiar or mirrors our long-set beliefs.  Most leaders are given many opportunities to broaden their knowledge and experiences – through global interactions, intellectual forums and market pressures.  However, we all know people who have had these experiences but who still seem largely unaffected by them, as if they have armor that “protects” them from the changes that experiences offer.

We also have values and principles that give us a moral compass about how to conduct ourselves and to hold our organizations to standards that shape its actions.  These are essential to navigate effectively in a turbulent world.  However, all of us also have deep-seated beliefs, largely unconscious, that govern our thoughts and actions.  Leaders with edge are willing to look at these beliefs and reshape them based on the world they live in today rather than the world of their childhood.  This self-awareness and willingness to embrace current reality, without letting go of enduring values, creates a capacity to continually learn and change without being thrown off-balance.

Don’t Defend…Change the Conversation

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Think of tv shows where the defense lawyer follows the prosecutor’s arguments in the court room.  Notice how seldom you see a direct defense of the points made by the prosecutor.  Effective defense lawyers change the conversation so that the jury focuses on different points or sees things through different eyes.

My observation is that defending your position seldom works.  It positions you immediately as having less power, simply because you are defending, even if you are completely in the right.  It is much more powerful to switch the view of the situation differently, to pose questions that provoke different thinking, to selectively agree and offer new thoughts.  Tit for tat seldom changes anyone’s position, it just further entrenches people on “their” side.

 

Verbal Brevity = Verbal Effectiveness

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Woodrow Wilson famously said about speaking….”If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.”

As a rule, the longer one speaks about something is usually a good indicator of the less they know about it OR that they have been undisciplined about preparation.  Leaders can truly fall into the trap of “winging it”, especially with employees below them….because they can.  In some ways, it is an abuse of power to stand in front of people as their leader without achieving clarity of thought or without developing skill to bring the message forward in a simple and powerful way.  Everyone may not be born an effective presenter but anyone can become one.  It’s those that don’t take it seriously who are the great offenders, who shortcut the thoughtfulness that these types of situations deserve.

While I don’t recommend many “training” courses for executives, I do believe that presentation and media training can make a world of difference, particularly if done with intact executive teams.  Honing both the message and the skills can be a powerful tool to lead the company.

Corporate Magical Thinking

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Haven’t we all thought that when this project is over, this deadline is met, this major issue resolved, that we will go back to a “normal” pace, a world free of strife and stress, or at least better that we have at this moment?  I call this corporate magical thinking, where we yearn for that respite that never comes.  It’s hard for us to grasp that old problems will be replaced with new problems, that there will always be something major to accomplish.  It feels too heavy to give up hope of that nirvana of a free day in the office with no major deadlines or difficult situations.

So what do we do about it?   Rather than live for this futuristic dream that never materializes, live more in the moment.  That’s how we live life any way, literally moment by moment.  When we really get into every moment, much of this heaviness dissipates and rarely are the problems as big as our projections.  We start just enjoying what is in front of us and not being that surprised or dismayed by the next thing that falls into our lap.  Most high-level executives completely operate from this mindset and rarely feel overwhelmed for very long.  This doesn’t mean that we don’t all need to take mental and physical breaks from our work, but rather to lose that sense of dread or anxiety that permeates so many of us.  Just take it one moment at a time.

Vision – Connecting People to the Future State

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Leaders have many enormous responsibilities but two that rise to the top of the list are the ability to clarify the vision for their company and then mobilize support and action from all involved, from stockholders to employees.  This is no small feat but if well done, can create a momentum that goes well beyond what any executive team can directly do.

There are two compelling principles to remember when embarking upon creating a vision.  The first is that engagement equals commitment, especially important for those that will be relied upon to take action towards that vision.  That’s a tried and true formula – engagement in any process creates commitment to the outcome, which supports actions to achieve the outcome and creates self-accountability for results.  Engagement can range from active involvement in the actual creation of the vision to communicating it in a way that creates a deep connection, both of which require a thoughtful strategy and process as well as the burden of actually listening and integrating perspectives.  However, the payoff can be significant because you engage both the heads and hearts of those involved.

The second principle to understand is to create a vision that makes the future real to people because only then will they take it seriously and work towards it.  We humans are wired to care about how something feels to us today.  That’s why we have a hard time sticking to diets or make dumb financial decisions because we don’t feel the consequences or the benefits today.  Through your words and actions, make the future real and tangible and your team will be inspired to truly achieve it.