Next Level Blog
Simple, practical, applicable
That’s My Story and I’m Sticking to It May 22 2012 4 responses
So, let me say at the outset that I’m reasonably confident that this is the world’s first leadership development blog post that includes a story about roasted cauliflower. (I Googled “roasted cauliflower leadership” and the top result was this recipe from Northern Michigan’s News Leader.) Here’s my back story.
One day last week I was working from my home office and went into the kitchen to get some lunch. My amazing wife, Diane, had a baking sheet full of raw cauliflower out on the counter. I asked her what she was doing and she said, “Making some roasted cauliflower for lunch. Want some?” I think I made a face, semi-politely said no thanks and that she must be the only person in North America who was making cauliflower for lunch. She kindly reminded me that I’ve demonstrated over the past couple of years that I actually like cauliflower and noted the different occasions that proved that point.
That’s when I said, “I’m still working with my long held story that I hate cauliflower and I’m sticking to it.” So I went for a sandwich and missed out on tasty cauliflower with peas and Indian spices.
The lunch-time lesson got me thinking about that phrase we hear so often, “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.” It’s usually offered in a lighthearted kind of way but like most jokes there’s often a deeper truth that lies underneath.
The Week in Tweets May 18 2012 no responses
Every week, I share a recap of some of the best things I’ve seen on Twitter. This week, I’m highlighting tweets and links on innovation, managing younger workers, and improving your listening skills, among others.
How to Lead Massive Change: An Interview with Lockheed Martin CIO Sondra Barbour May 17 2012 no responses
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Sondra Barbour is the chief information officer and senior vice president of enterprise business services at Lockheed Martin. She’s a company veteran and change leader who has taken on increasingly responsible positions over the course of her career. I spoke with her recently about what she’s learned along the way. Some of the highlights from our conversation include:
- Leading Massive Change: When leading change, Barbour focuses on the connection between two key factors: communication and identifying the influencers. She notes that the influencers are “sometimes not the people you think” they would be. Once you find them, you have to establish two-way communication with them.
- Get Comfortable with Mistakes: Leading change means you’re going to make mistakes. Barbour says, “You can’t be right 100% of the time, and if you are then you are not taking enough risk.” When a mistake is made, call it out and let your team know what you’re going to do to correct it.
- Maintaining Your Sanity: Leading massive change can be stressful. Barbour has learned that it’s important to take time for yourself in whatever ways work for you. She’s not a disciple of work/life balance. Instead, she believes fun and fulfillment can and should be had in both arenas.
Barbour has a lot more to say about change leadership in the accompanying podcast.
What I Learned About Power Last Weekend May 15 2012 4 responses
This past weekend I traveled to Cambridge, Mass., for the 25th reunion of my graduating class at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. (Just writing that makes me feel old.) I had the good fortune of graduating in a year that was the 350th anniversary of Harvard and the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy School (and its predecessor, the School of Public Administration). So, this year, as all of you mathletes have figured out, marks the 375th and 75th anniversaries respectively.
That meant that there was a lot of other stuff going on in Cambridge besides class reunion parties. On Friday, for example, there was a Dean’s Conference with a lineup of really interesting speakers. They were all good, but the one who really stood out for me was Joseph Nye, the long-time Harvard professor who also served as assistant secretary of Defense and other positions over the years.
Nye spoke on the topic of his latest book, “The Future of Power.” While he was approaching the topic from the standpoint of international relations (lots on the dynamic between the U.S. and China), I think Nye’s views on the evolving nature of power have broader applications for leaders in different domains.
Here are three things I learned about power from Professor Nye last weekend and some thoughts about how you might apply them:
The Week in Tweets May 11 2012 no responses
Every week, I share a recap of some of the best things I’ve seen on Twitter. This week, I’m highlighting tweets and links on sustainability, collaboration, and improving your public speaking, among others.
How to Talk With People May 10 2012 2 responses
This is one of those titles that when you read it, you might be saying, “Really?” Yes, really. There’s a big difference between talking to people and talking with people. If you’re the designated leader in your organization, that difference has a multiplier effect that can cut in either direction.
In a post a few weeks ago, I asked if you were a transmitter or a receiver. Transmitters talk to people. Receivers talk with people. Transmitters take the teaching stance. Receivers take the learning stance.
When you’re the leader, you end up leading a lot of conversations in which multiple people participate. Sometimes you need to transmit to get a point across. That’s talking to people. Most of the time, though, you’re going to want to set things up so you learn from people and they learn from each other. That requires talking with people.
As the leader, you’ll set the tone as to whether it’s a talking to or talking with conversation.
Here are three ways to improve your communication skills by talking with people when you’re the leader.
Show Up and Shut Up May 8 2012 4 responses
For the past couple of years in Next Level leadership workshops, I’ve asked the participants to do a lot of peer coaching exercises with each other. The coaching is always focused on real life issues the participants are dealing with and the conversations are intentionally brief. They’re brief because they more or less flow from three questions that the “coach” is asking their partner:
- What outcome will you have if you’re completely successful?
- How do you need to show up to make that outcome likely?
- What else?
When we debrief these peer coaching conversations I always ask how many people have a better idea of what they need to do and how they need to do it. Invariably, just about everyone raises a hand. Next, I ask how many are surprised by how much ground was covered in a four to eight minute conversation. Most people are surprised. My final question is how many people have these kinds of coaching conversations with a peer on a regular basis in their real life day to day work. Hardly anyone does.
The Week in Tweets May 4 2012 no responses
Every week, I share a recap of some of the best things I’ve seen on Twitter. This week, I’m highlighting tweets and links on how to build your confidence, whether trustworthiness can be taught, and tips for improving your public speaking, among others.
Is Your Boss Unfit to Lead? Take the Rupert Murdoch Test May 3 2012 no responses
Well, you have to hand it to News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. He knows how to generate a story. The twist on the latest Murdoch story, however, is that he’s the subject of it. This week, a British parliamentary panel investigating phone hacking, email hacking and bribery of police officers by his company’s managers and reporters concluded that there was “willful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications” and “that “Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company.” (Check out the Financial Times and the New York Times for the back story.)
That’s some pretty strong stuff but it seems more than appropriate when you consider that reporters in Murdoch’s organization, in the interest of scooping the competition, hacked the voice mail of a 13 year old murder victim and the e-mails of British soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. As I wrote last year, in a post called You Get The Culture You Pay For, the managers at News Corp created a win-at-all-costs culture and then worked to cover up and deny the criminality when it began to come to light.
As the proverb says, a fish rots from the head down. The person at the top ultimately owns the culture that informs the way the people in the organization think, decide and act. Of course, News Corp. is not the only organization in the news lately for scandalous or criminal behavior. The story of Murdoch and his top managers offers, though, a helpful set of questions that anyone can use as a test to determine whether or not their boss is fit to lead. Stepping back to consider these questions from time to time might give you the chance to spot and tamp down trouble in your organization before it spins out of control. At a minimum, they can give you a heads up that you probably need to find another place to work.
Here’s the Rupert Murdoch Test:
3 Ways to Silence Your Inner Critic May 1 2012 8 responses
So, here’s the scenario: You’re the newest member of a leadership or management team. Today is your first regular leadership team meeting. It’s that part of the meeting where you go around the physical or virtual table and everyone reports out for five minutes or so on the latest and greatest things happening in their part of the world. As it happens, your seat at the table positions you so you’re the next to last person to report out. There are eight people ahead of you so that gives you about 40 minutes to do what?
That’s right – not listen to a word that anyone else is saying. That’s because you’re listening instead to that little voice inside your head that’s saying, “Oh, man, you are in trouble. You’ve got nothing. Everyone of these people know more than you do. They’re more experienced than you are. They’re smarter than you are. Geesh, they’re even better looking than you are.”
Having read a lot of the research on this topic, I can tell you what the clinicians call this inner critic voice. They call it the “itty, bitty sh***y committee.”
It might be a leadership team meeting, a big presentation, a tough conversation or any number of situations. If you’re a leader in any capacity, the likelihood is that itty bitty committee is going to shout at you at some point. The problem, of course, is that in the same way that dogs smell fear, your colleagues can smell a lack of confidence. As I write in “The Next Level,” leadership begins with picking up confidence and letting go of doubt. How do you silence that inner critic so you can show up with the kind of confidence that compels people to follow your lead?
Here are three ideas:
Scott Eblin is an executive coach, speaker and author of 
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