Monthly Archives: November 2014

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The Magic of Compounding “Interest”

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4 Generations

The older I get, the more “interested” I am in Fatherhood. I am interested because I believe that there is a compounding or cumulative effect of being a good father. Just like there is a compounding effect to our money due to the interest it generates in an investment vehicle, so it is for us a fathers.  A good father begets a good father who begets another good father. And so it goes down through the generations. Or at least it is possible for it to happen that way.

This reality was driven home again today as 4 generations sat around the tables and enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal. We were fortunate to have my father, my son, and my two grandsons with us together for several hours fellowshipping at the table.

I have spoken many times about the impact that my father has had on my life. But up to this point I have not really made many statements about the impact that he is having on subsequent generations. He is a humble man and I will do well to model that as I continue to write this.

So what is the point on Fatherhood Friday?

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Happy Thanksgiving 2014

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As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.

Thanksgiving 2014

You all know by now how much I love a good quote.  And this one is from the final Thanksgiving Proclamation of President John F. Kennedy.

But what does this one mean?

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Join Our New Group on LinkedIn

LinkedIn Logo

Please check out the newest leadership group on LinkedIn.  Leadership Voices, LLC has created a group called the Legacy Leadership Collective for all who are interested in the kind of legacy leadership principles that you will find here.  Check out the new group and join if you are on LinkedIn.  It will be a great way for us to stay connected.

Click Here To Visit The LinkedIn Group

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Does It Pay To Be Emotionally Intelligent?

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Does It Pay To Be EI - 1Would you agree with me that the ability to “read” people would be a handy skill to have? According to a recent paper in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, if you’re good at discerning other people’s emotions, you are probably bringing home a bigger paycheck than your emotionally challenged co-workers and colleagues.

Now, I am not suggesting that money is the greatest motivator. In fact, studies have shown that money is a terrible long-term motivator with affects being seen for only the briefest of time. But money (income) does affect our actions and behaviors.

Does It Pay To Be EI - 2Recently, some researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany showed a group of study volunteers a series of images and voice recordings and asked them to identify the emotions being expressed. “On average, the participants succeeded in 77 percent of the cases,” lead author Gerhard Blickle, a psychology professor at the university, said in the press release. “People who succeeded in 87 percent of the cases were considered to be good, and people who succeeded in more than 90 percent of the cases were considered really good. Those below 60 percent, in contrast, were seen as not so good in recognizing emotions.”

Blickle and colleagues also sought information about the careers of their study participants, including basic facts like income along with more subjective information gathered from interviews with people who worked with the participants. Those who scored higher on the emotions task were also rated as more socially skilled by their colleagues and supervisors, and they tended to make more money than people who scored lower on the emotion-reading task.

I believe that the finding makes intuitive sense. People who are more socially adept are usually more adept at navigating the work environment and keeping the “boss” happy. At any rate, this work suggests that it literally pays to be emotionally intelligent.

So what is the leadership lesson from this study?

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You Can Only Steer A Moving Ship

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Prop_and_Rudder

Propeller and Rudder

You can’t steer a ship that isn’t already moving in some direction. Think about it. The propeller must be spinning and a ship must be in motion in order to affect the direction in which it is traveling.

This principle is true in life and leadership as well, yet so often we miss it.

I’ve come across many people who are waiting for life (or God) to show them which direction to take next. Unfortunately, if you’re not already moving, you can’t be steered. Instead, you need to be “started.” And that is a topic for another time.

bow_thruster

Bow Thruster

I have a cousin-in-law who is an expert in cruise ships. And he tells me that modern cruise ships do not have to have forward momentum to be steered. They have what are called “bow thruster” that can move and seer the ship from a stationary position. But even so, the bow thrusters have to get the ship moving in order to accomplish the purpose of steering the ship.

If you’re looking for direction in your life, health, finances, relationships, parenting or any other aspect of your life, don’t sit around waiting for a miraculous neon sign to point you in the right direction. Get moving! And get a “coach” or “navigator” to help you navigate and steer once your ship is moving.

What is the Leadership Lesson here?

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New Website is LIVE!

New Website Announcement

Hey, thanks for being patient this afternoon.  But I think that it has been worth the wait.  The new website went live a few minutes before 6PM Central time and we are very excited about it.

Please take a look at the new website and leave us a comment with your thoughts and suggestions.
Photo credit: dan taylor / Foter / CC BY

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“Help Ever – Hurt Never” and the Lost Skill of Discernment

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Help Ever Hurt Never - 1I saw a bumper sticker on the way to meet a friend for breakfast this morning. It said “Help Ever – Hurt Never.” I thought “What a great idea.” And I thought “What a great way to live”.

Help Ever Hurt Never - 2And then it hit me. That doesn’t make as much sense as I thought that it did a few moments ago. If that statement were true, and the more that I think about the more that I don’t think it is, then going to the dentist or going to the doctor would take on a whole new set of anticipations. Most trips to the dentist involve a little bit of pain.  But it is for my own good.  And usually because I didn’t do as good at brushing and flossing as I should.  The dentist is helping me.  But he is also actually hurting me a little bit.

You see signs like that all over the place and you need to be careful that you take a look at them on something a little more than just a surface level. You need to be a little discerning in your reading and in your application of what you read.

So what is the Leadership Lesson in this?

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Battlestar Voices, the Skirmish with the Fifth “S”

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I have been through several 5S training modules during the different stops in my career path.  5S is a methodology generated by Japanese manufacturing to improve the organization of a working area to drive efficiency and effectiveness.  5S stands for 5 stages identified by words that starts with the letter “S”.  These stages are: Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize and Sustain(As translated into English).When fully supported from management down, it is a methodology I fully believe in.  With that said, I’m only touching on one aspect of this methodology in this expose of thoughts from my mind. (scary place, I know)

DriveSH

What has been in my thoughts lately due to situations in my latest career stop is the last stage..…. “Sustain”.  More to the point, how leadership in my experience commonly fails at driving actions to sustain implemented changes, processes, policies etc.   An interesting item I read is that the Japanese word “shitsuke” (translated to “Sustain” to maintain the 5S moniker) may actually be better translated to the word “commitment”. Does this mean I believe leadership has failed to be committed on a whole?  Not necessarily, but from a narrow viewpoint, I do think one of the more difficult aspects of effective leadership is a commitment to sustaining actions after the “crisis” or “action” moments are implemented.

Maybe the cobattlenundrum with commitment to sustaining is that it is boring? Dull? Lacks glitter and glamour? It is humdrum?  It does not bring forth the adventure of something new and of an attainable and tangible goal to concur!!!  In training for 5S you won’t hear about problems with the first 3 steps very often.   Why is that?  Maybe because breaking something down and rebuilding it is a challenge.  Transformation is something that we can visualize the change in, set easy goals that are perceptible in some way to achieve, can be easily celebrated and can make for a great graph or photo placed in a Powerpoint presentation. Sustaining is……..repetitive dedication to adhering to a standard.   Where’s the excitement in that?

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Can There Be Change Without Chaos?

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Change without chaos - 1We all know that managing through change is never easy. But you can increase your chances of inducing change without chaos by leading through change instead of just managing through change?

Do you know how often major change initiatives succeed? The success rate is not good. In fact, a 2013 survey of global senior executives by Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company) and the Katzenbach Center reveals that the success rate of major change initiatives is only 54 percent. Now if you were a major league hitter, that would be phenomenal. If you were a shooting foul shots in the NBA, it wouldn’t be acceptable. And I would suspect a nearly 50% failure rate in your organization would not be acceptable.

Since change is inevitable, what should you and I be doing within our organizations to minimize chaos and maximize success?

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