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The Hike to One Tree Hill

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Hike to One Tree Hill

Just having a compass doesn’t really make you a leader.

This realization came to me while watching my oldest grandson on a hike yesterday. We were visiting the beautiful Shelburne Farm on the shores of Lake Champlain in Shelburne, VT. At one point in our visit to the farm, we decided to take a hike up a trail to One Tree Hill and look out onto Lake Champlain.

My wife, the greatest Mimi in the universe, had purchased a little something for each of the grandchildren to take on our hike. She had purchased a little magnifying glass for our granddaughter because she loves to stop and explore along the way. And she had purchased a compass for our grandson because he likes to feel like he is in charge and is a leader. Both were ecstatic to receive these gifts. Both were well suited to their temperaments and personalities.

My grandson was convinced that the compass gave him the right to be the leader. He proudly held the compass out in front of himself and proclaimed that we were to move forward in the direction he pointed. Unfortunately, the trailhead was in the opposite direction.

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Why I Lead

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Green man showing the leadership qualities and red man showing isolated people

I have asked myself the question: “Why do I lead?”

And I have come up with the following reasons.

  • I lead in order to help others.
  • I lead that change might come to the people, organizations and cities I interact with.
  • I lead that others might find themselves, discover their purpose, be transformed and become mature, contributing members of society.
  • I lead because there are many negative influences in the lives of people and unfortunately at least some of the masses seem to blindly follow these influences, seemingly ignorant of consequences.
  • I lead because there do exist moral absolutes and principles which lives, organizations, culture and society need to be founded upon, but far too often are forgotten or ignored and someone needs to bravely proclaim these truths in the face of all opposition.
  • I lead because there seems to be a vacuum of healthy and helpful leadership.
  • I lead because common sense seems lacking and I believe that leadership, at least in part, can help to restore some manner of common sense to others
  • I lead that the lives and the future possibilities of those I lead might be improved.
  • I lead in the hopes of setting an example of living and serving that others will want to emulate.
  • I lead because when I see injustice, suffering, people struggling, or people who just need a hand, I simply cannot sit idly by.
  • I lead because there is an epidemic of sub-par and status-quo behavior and I believe that much of this is due to the lack of healthy leadership.
  • I lead because helping others is the right thing to do.

Why do you lead?

Photo credit: hang_in_there / Foter / CC BY

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Victory Is As Exhausting As Defeat

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Shiloh Cannon

I am deep into the pages of a historical novel from the Civil War era and that is set at the time of the Battle of Shiloh.

For those of you who are not history buffs or military enthusiasts, I offer the following short synopsis of the battle.

The Battle of Shiloh was a major battle in the Civil War, It was fought Sunday and Monday, April the 6th and 7th of 1862, in the southwestern part of Tennessee. The Union army under Major General Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and was encamped principally near a little church at a place called Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the river. It was there that Confederate forces under Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard launched a surprise attack on Grant’s army. General Johnston was killed in action during the fighting and Beauregard, who thus succeeded to command of the army, mate the fateful decision against pressing the attack late in the evening of Sunday the 6th of April. Overnight, General Grant received considerable reinforcements from another Union army under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell that allowed him to launch an unexpected counterattack the next morning which completely reversed the Confederate gains of the previous day.

One of the main characters of the story is Capt. Michael Grierson: A volunteer with the 5th Texas Artillery. Michael makes several keen observations in the lull that followed the Confederates initial crushing defeat of the Union Army. As he observes the Union prisoners marching past him as he sits astride his horse he observes the situation and sums if up this way:

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Leadership and Appreciative Inquiry – Part 2

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AI - Part 2

Earlier in the week I tried to provide a bit of an overview of what Appreciative Inquiry is all about. The most concise definition I can provide is that it is a way of looking at challenges in a more positive manner.

As a reminder, here are the five principles of AI from my earlier article:

  • The Constructionist Principle
  • The Simultaneity Principle
  • The Poetic Principle
  • The Anticipatory Principle
  • The Positive Principle

I invite you back to that article for a synopsis of each of those principles.  Click this link to review that article.

This article is about the process that comes out of the questioning and positive approach to what many would call “problem solving.”

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Leadership and Appreciative Inquiry – Part 1

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AI - Part 1

I had a “vigorous” discussion several months ago with someone whose opinion I have always valued. I have not always agreed with it. And in fact, I did not agree with it in the context of that vigorous discussion. However, I had reflected upon something that he said to me and have decided to put make of those thoughts available to Leadership Voices.

He challenged me to consider the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Model rather than the model of problem solving that I tend to employ. I was not as versed in AI as he. And you may not be as well. If so, consider this quick definition of AI.

Appreciative inquiry (AI) is a model for analysis, decision-making and the creation of strategic change, particularly within companies and other organizations. It was developed at Case Western Reserve University’s department of organizational behavior, starting with a 1987 article by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva. They felt that the overuse of “problem solving” as a model often held back analysis and understanding, focusing on problems and limiting discussion of new organizational models.

The model is based on the assumption that the questions we ask will tend to focus our attention in a particular direction. The more common methods of assessing and evaluating a situation and then proposing solutions are based on what AI terms a “deficiency model.” Some of these more common methods ask questions such as “What are the problems?”, “What’s wrong?” or “What is broken and needs to be fixed?”.

Appreciative Inquiry has 5 Principles:

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Five Fundamentals for Young Leaders

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5 Fundamentals for Young Leaders

It is graduation season. In fact, I attended a graduation celebration today for some very impressive young women who are graduating from high school.  And it is Summer Intern season where I work. So, youth and optimism are in the air.

I thought I might take this opportunity to offer up some advice for those making the transition from high school to college, college to career, and ultimately, child to adult.

As a young professional just starting out, you may think you can’t lead because of your youth or short tenure within your new company. I am going to invite you to reconsider that thought.

In fact, youth and short tenure can be assets. Young professionals may not bring years of experience to a company, but they bring optimism, enthusiasm, energy, exuberance, a set of new ideas, and experience with new technologies that others in the company may not have. They also bring a fresh perspective — a new look at old problems.

As a young professional, you can still be a leader even though you may not have yet achieved a position of power. In fact, if you exercise your leadership skills as a young professional, your road to a more desirable position can be much shorter.

Consider if you will these five fundamental things you can do to cultivate and exercise your leadership skills without having positional power:

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Anger and Emotional Intelligence

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Anger and EI

Can you be considered “Emotionally Intelligent” and still get angry? I had to consider that possibility following a conversation with a really dear friend yesterday. Up to that point my knee-jerk answer would have been “No.”

Now, I am not so sure about that.  In fact, I think you can be emotionally intelligent and still get angry.  Consider for a few moments the nature of “anger.”

Anger is a truly powerful emotion. It can be used either in productive ways or it can be used counter-productive ways. It is sort of like electricity. It can light, heat, or cool our homes. It can also electrocute you. In and of itself it is neither positive nor negative. It just is.

Here are few more things to consider about anger:

  • Anger is a powerful survival tool
  • Anger is a response to a stimulus (physical or psychological)
  • Anger is a source of energy
  • Anger is a secondary or a response emotion

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Leadership Lessons from Product Designers

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Product Designers

Jony Ive, is a Senior Vice President of Design at Apple.  He outlined his three key tips for designers during a talk at London’s Design Museum. These three practices – although crafted in product design and development language – are spot on for leaders intent on bringing new life to plateaued or declining organizations.

Jony Ive’s 3 Leadership Lessons

In his talk Ive offered up three key practices for high-tech product designers. In order to excel, these innovative product designers must:

  • Learn how to care
  • Learn how to focus
  • Be prepared to screw up and throw things away

Many times product designers work in start-up or entrepreneurial ventures. Cash is not yet king and errors are costly. Too many errors in these early stages will bankrupt a fledgling company and prevent us from ever experiencing their remarkable products.

Those product designers who work in established and mature organizations often experience a cut throat world where the product designer that hits on a winning design is potentially rich beyond his wildest dreams. But the carefree days and camaraderie of the start-up are long gone.

What is the Leadership Lesson in these three practices?

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Insurmountable Circumstances – Part 2

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Insurmountable - Part 2

In the first part of this series on Insurmountable Circumstances, I talked about the all-important aspects of preparing yourself, your mindset, your character, etc. After you have begun this process (since we never are fully “ready”) then you must take the time to gather the right personnel and equipment.

Aside from the inner drive to actually take on the imposing mountain in front of you, perhaps the next most important thing that is needed to climb and summit a mountain is the proper gear. Having the right supplies can make the difference between life and death, achieving or failing. You and I know that having the right equipment is important, however sometimes what makes the mountain in front of you seem insurmountable is because you know you just don’t have the stuff needed to get to the top. So how do you gather what is needed?

The truth is that no one of us has all the supplies needed in our back pocket. We must go to the appropriate stores, spend some money, take some time and procure the needed items. Similarly in the workplace and in our leadership efforts,

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