Seeing Beyond The Horizon
I recently listened to one of my favourite leadership voices, and I was reminded of one of his recent messages. John Maxwell was introducing the second publication of one of his earliest and most widely purchased books "Developing the Leaders within you 2.0" when he spent a few moments talking on the two themes - that effective leaders see more than others see, and they see before others see.
“A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others do.”
~ Leroy Eims
Difference Taker, or Difference Maker
Leaders with an abundance mentality and approach to their work focus on the possibilities rather than the problems, on what could be rather than what is, on what they want to do rather than on what’s convenient, on what they could achieve to make a difference.
Stuck in the storm
There is a storm going on right now for many businesses in the midst of this pandemic, where uncertainty is causing staff to dwell in the storm for far longer than they need to. If the team can’t see a way forward with certainty, and the what-if discussion goes round in circles, then the team can find itself languishing in the storm from where others have already emerged.
The journey out of COVID
Be authentic. We can’t know everything about a future that has so much uncertainty. We’ll need to make decisions, and we’ll inevitably get some wrong. People will expect that, and people will see that, so don’t try to hide it or spin it so that it looks right. Own your good decisions and own your bad decisions, and you’ll earn people’s respect. After all, people would rather follow a leader who is always authentic, than one who is never wrong.
Making decisions in the dim light of incomplete information
When I came back to the bike sheds to cycle home at the end of the day, of course, it had gone. My bike had gone. Forever. And I didn’t get a replacement for several years; my parents decided it would teach me a valuable lesson, and it did!
PRIZE Leadership Quotient
Leadership is the art of making decisions in the dim light of incomplete information, and leadership is measured with the illumination of hindsight.If we want to be sure to be as well equipped as possible when the time comes for those dimly lit decisions to be made, then we need to make sure that our leadership skills are as developed as possible in preparation, and the PLQ provides a helpful benchmark against which we can assess our progress.If we can measure it, then we stand a chance of being able to deliver it.
What’s your motivation?
I have found without exception, when working with teams, that by helping them to understand the things that motivate them and their colleagues, they can learn how to improve their combined performance, productivity and profitability.
What did a conductor ever do for us?
What did a conductor ever do for us? Well, for me, exploring what a conductor does provides a really helpful model to see leadership . By the time a piece is ready to perform the hard work has already been done: seeing over the horizon, describing what’s on the horizon, and getting to the horizon.
Collateral Beauty
So what could “collateral beauty” mean? Well, maybe it could be described as an unintended bonus, benefit or beneficial consequence resulting unexpectedly from the midst of a tragedy.
Generation C is where Life is done “Digital-First”
Rather than designing for the physical world, and then simulate that design in the online world, we’ll be designing for the online world, and stimulating that in the physical world. We’ll start living our lives mobile-first.
Living in an online world
My current plan involved spending the morning with over 200 other people, and then going directly to visit with two people who were considered to be at high risk of being seriously affected by this growing pandemic should they contract the virus. That didn’t seem to be a wise plan of action.