Archive for January, 2011
Leaders, Your Words Matter January 10 2011 3 responses
In response to the horrific wounding of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and several others and the killing in Arizona this weekend of a nine year old girl, a Federal judge, a Congressional staffer and three citizens who came to the local shopping plaza to talk with their member of Congress, President Obama has asked for a national moment of silence at 11:00 am on January 10. Let’s use that moment of silence to remember the dead and wounded, but let’s also use it as a pause to consider the impact of what we say and how we say it.
It looks like the media noise machine is gearing up for a debate on how much impact the political dialogue had on the thinking of the shooter in Arizona. If the recent past is any guide, this conversation will quickly degenerate into name calling and posturing on both sides of the argument. At some level, it doesn’t matter at this point what influenced him. On the other hand, the events in Arizona prompt a much broader question that is worth considering. Does the content and tenor of what leaders say and how they say it, have an impact on the level of civility and comity in our society?
My answer is simple. Words matter.
As I’ve written here before, leaders influence those who follow them. In an age in which almost anyone can immediately go global with their influence through the tools of social media, that’s likely more true than it’s ever been. On occasion, that influence comes through demonstrated action. Most often, it comes through words.
No matter what type of leader you are or what kind of formal or informal organization you lead, I encourage you to pause today and everyday to consider the possible impact of your words. As you pause, it might help to remember what many etymologists believe is the root meaning of the magician’s word, “Abracadabra.” One theory traces the word back to two words in the ancient Aramaic language which, when said together, mean, “I will create as I speak.”
I will create as I speak. If you’re in a position of leadership you have that power. As they say, with power comes responsibility. What impact do you want to make with your words?
Next Level Tips for Women Leaders January 7 2011 no responses
Last month, I was interviewed by Kristi Hedges, executive coach and columnist for WomenEntrepeneur.com, on how women leading their own businesses can develop themselves for next level performance. The article came out this week and Kristi did a great job putting it together. It's a perfect time of year for it as lots of folks are still mapping out their development game plan for 2011.
A lot of what we talked about applies to leaders in other organizations or who happen to be men. Here are the first couple of questions to give you a flavor of what we covered:
How does next-level leadership apply to women entrepreneurs?
Leading a business, like life, is an ongoing series of transitions. With just about any transition, there are different results that are expected. If you need different results, you likely will have to do some things differently. There are things that have worked for you in the past that you'll need to keep doing, but there are also new behaviors and mind-sets that you'll have to pick up, and others that you'll need to let go of to lead and succeed at the next level.
What are some typical habits you have seen that entrepreneurs need to let go of?
The lowest-rated behavior in our research on leaders is the skill of pacing oneself by building in regular breaks from work. That can be a particular challenge for entrepreneurs who are trying to do it all. The entrepreneurial mind-set is often that of the "go to" person. You've gotten where you are because you get stuff done. You're the closer. It's all too easy to get sucked into that mind-set and lose your perspective.
The interview continues with some easy, low cost or no cost steps you can take to raise your game this year. Check it out at this link.
And, if you're working on your roadmap for this year, be sure to join me on January 13 for a conversation on "Charting Your Course in 2011 with a Life GPS®."
Leaders, What’s Your Vocation? January 5 2011 no responses
Hopefully, I’m catching you with this post at a time when you still have a bit of that post-holiday season reflective, what am I trying to do with my life thing going on. My research with leaders shows that increasingly many have very little time to think about what’s most important and what they’re really trying to accomplish.
Before you get too deep into the mode of running flat out, here’s a question that might be worth considering. What’s your vocation? By vocation, I don’t mean your job or your career. I’m going back to the Latin root of the word, vocare, which means “to call.” Years ago, the American writer Frederick Buechner summed up the idea of vocation pretty well when he wrote, "Where our deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet, we hear a further call."
In an interview with PBS, Buechner explained what he meant by that:
“Just the other day somebody my age in some sort of a crisis said, "I don't feel I'm being what I ought to be." And I said, "What makes you happiest? That's the clue." I struck him dumb. He said, "I never thought that. What makes me happy?" I think he was thinking, what makes me useful? What makes me religious? No, no, no. What makes you, in the deepest sense of the word, happy? That's what you should be doing, if the other part is also met — if it is something the world needs.”
I thought about that intersection of deep personal happiness and the world’s great need last week when I read the obituary of Dr. Billy Taylor. Dr. Taylor crafted a 70 year vocation as a jazz performer and educator. By reading his obituary in the Washington Post, you can get a clear sense of how happy he was and how he answered his call by combining his great passion with what he identified as a great need in the world. You can hear his vocation in this performance clip on You Tube. (If you do nothing else, just click on it and let it play while you multitask. I promise you’ll feel better 2 minutes later.)
Dr. Taylor was a great performer who collaborated with the greats like Duke Ellington and Wynton Marsalis. He was the first African American bandleader on a network talk show with David Frost in 1969. As gifted a performer as he was, his leadership and vocation really came as an educator. He published his first book on bebop piano styles in 1949. He was a radio and TV host starting in the 1950’s. He earned his doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts in 1975. For twenty years he was the jazz correspondent on CBS Sunday Morning. He began as the Kennedy Center’s artistic adviser for jazz in 1994 and took the number of jazz concerts there from four a year to 150.
His vocation was to share his passion with the world. "There's no question that being an advocate eclipsed my reputation as a musician," Dr. Taylor said in a 2007 article in The Post Magazine. "It was my doing. I wanted to prove to people that jazz has an audience. I had to do that for me."
So, before you get totally up to you neck in stuff this year, take some time to consider your vocation. You may already may be in it and, if you’re not, it may not be that far away. It might just require a different perspective and some tweaks to what you’re doing now. If you want to explore that a bit more, I encourage you to join me on January 13 for a conversation on “Charting Your Course for 2011 with a Life GPS®”
What Coaches (and that means you) Can Learn from “The King’s Speech” January 3 2011 9 responses
There are a lot of great things about the holidays. One is that email traffic slows to a trickle. Another is taking in some of the new movies that are released at the end of the year. My viewing card this season included a Jeff Bridges double feature, Tron (visually compelling and fun) and True Grit (fantastic script, acting and cinematography. See it even if you don’t like Westerns. It’s more than that.) Also saw the focus of this post, The King’s Speech, with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter.
You probably know the back story of the film. In the England of the late 1930’s, Prince Albert has to become King when his older brother decides he’d rather marry Wallis Simpson than be King of England. The problem for Albert (or as his family calls him, Bertie) is that he has a severe stammer when he speaks in public. The rise of Hitler in Germany and the growing importance of communicating well over radio has Bertie at his wit’s end. Enter speech therapist Lionel Logue who, to say the least, is unconventional in his approach and demeanor. To put it bluntly, Lionel doesn’t do the whole sucking up to power thing. (For a terrific synopsis of the entire story and film, see this article by Stephen Holden of the New York Times and, for a taste of the dialogue between Bertie and Lionel, this script excerpt which also ran in the Times.)
It’s probably every leadership coach’s fantasy to coach a world leader during momentous times. Based on all of the posts, tweets and notes I’ve seen from coaches on The King’s Speech, I feel pretty safe in that assessment. In any case, there’s a lot that coaches can learn from watching the way that Lionel works with Bertie. And, even if you don’t think of yourself as a coach, there are some good lessons for anyone who has to influence someone with more formal power and authority. If you haven’t seen the movie, I hope you will and that my write up on some of the things I noticed will serve as a viewer’s guide. If you have seen the movie, I’m sure you have your own points you want to make so feel free to add them in the Comments.
Herewith, the coach’s viewers guide to The King’s Speech:
Scott Eblin is an executive coach, speaker and author of 
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