06.30.10
My new friends, Travis Collier and Braden Pivirotto, have graciously agreed to help me find and communicate great examples of Extreme Leadership in action. They’re very smart guys, and they’ve been sending excellent resources my way, which I, in turn, have been reviewing and sending out via twitter to the tune of several TPD (Tweets Per Day. I think I just invented a new acronym). If that sounds interesting to you, follow me on Twitter and stay tuned.
In my next post, Braden will make his first contribution to this blog with a short piece that interprets the work of a remarkable woman in light of the elements of the Radical Leap.
So, again…
…Stay tuned.
Follow Travis on Twitter
Follow Braden on Twitter
Technorati Tags: braden pivirotto, internship, leadership, resources, travis collier, twitter
06.24.10
The folks at Leadership Excellence have been publishing their fine magazine for 25 years.
“Month after month,” they say, “the foremost minds on management and leadership share their breakthrough ideas. By constantly publishing the best ideas from experienced consultants, trainers, and business leaders, the magazine is shaping organizations throughout the world.”
I was honored to contribute to the latest edition, and they were kind enough to allow me to offer the entire issue to my readers for free.
Contributors in this issue include Meg Wheatley, Jim Collins, Marshall Goldsmith, Malcolm Gladwell, Gary Hamel, my main man, Tom Peters and quite a few more.
And it’s all yours. You can download it here: Leadership Excellence June 2010
Technorati Tags: leadership, leadership excellence, magazine
06.22.10
In the quest to come up with something cogent to share with other working and aspiring speakers at the recent PublicWords Forum, I reflected on my own career path so far. (See my previous post)
The principles that I unearthed from my own experience are, I believe, things that all of us should pay attention to in any line of work: speakers, writers, accountants, lawyers, teachers, tradespeople, whatever. If you want to lead in your field, if you want to stand out, make a difference, earn an excellent reputation and succeed financially, too, then pay attention to the following.
If, however, work is just a way for you to fill in time between weekends, and you have no other outlet for your passions, use this as a way to re-think things, and see where it takes you.
These ideas are still forming and growing. For today, I’ll describe them in brief and give you a chance to ponder them. Later, I’ll describe how they’ve played out for me, and we’ll explore in more detail how you can apply them, too.
It all starts with your…
Burning Desire to Excel in Your Field. Your love for your work is the juice, the raw material and ultimately the energy that will drive you to do great things. Without your heart, you’ll just be going through the motions. Maybe significant motions, but just motions nonetheless.
Hone Your Chops. Take every opportunity you can to practice your craft, deepen your knowledge and broaden your experience.
Develop Your Own Point of View. After you’ve had a good amount of experience, and you’ve learned what the experts in your field have to say, start to ask yourself this very powerful question: “What do I think about all this?” or “If I could flip a magic switch and make everything in my field different, what would change?”
Build Your Body of Work (BOW). We normally think of an author as having a body of work, but it’s true for all of us. Every tangible bit of work you do relating to your field becomes part of your BOW. Your experience, articles (and/or books) you’ve written, your digital footprint, speeches you’ve given and panels you’ve participated in, projects you’ve led or contributed to. Even the relationships you’ve developed and nurtured. All of it. The common thread throughout is your point of view, your perspective, your voice. That’s what makes your BOW unique.
Consciously create your BOW, and expand it throughout your career. Amplify and broadcast it. Share it with as many people as possible. And if it happens that your BOW is compelling, inspiring and useful to others, it will not only set you apart, but it will create the need–the pull–for your services as a professional.
What is your Body Of Work so far? How does it demonstrate, communicate and reflect your point of view?
And that’s not a rhetorical question.
Technorati Tags: body of work, career, leadership, professional development, speaking
06.15.10
I just spent a couple of great days at Nick Morgan’s PublicWords Speakers Forum.
Nick had asked me to come and speak to the group about my experience as a (working) speaker, how I’ve built my career and–most important–what I’ve learned along the way.
“Tell us how you did it,” Nick said.
Now, I don’t consider myself to have “arrived,” by any means. While I’m happy with how I’ve progressed over the years, I know I have much, much further to go; nonetheless, I was deeply honored to have been asked. And besides, I knew I’d have a great time with everyone attending the event. I also felt fairly confident that I’d be able to conjure up something of value for others who aspired to speak professionally.
What I didn’t expect, however, was that in preparing to teach others what I’ve learned, I would learn so much about myself.
Here’s what I did:
First, I thought back over the course of my career and recalled in vivid detail every experience I’ve had along the way, every step of my professional journey so far. I brought it all back. The good, the bad, the traumatic, and the ecstatic.
Next, I reflected on how one step led to the next. (I’m still marveling at how, in retrospect, the progression of things makes such incredible sense).
And then, asking myself what I learned from each experience, I extracted very clear operating principles that others could use in building their careers. While one or two of these principles were obvious, the others were things that I had never realized about my work–or myself–before. Not consciously, anyway. And–this is going to sound like an exaggeration, but it’s not–for the first time since I embarked on this career over two decades ago, I really, fully came to understand the nature of the work.
And those are the things I shared with the group. And I’ll share them with you, too, in my next post.
For now, here’s the challenge I have for you:
Tell us how YOU did it.
Whatever it is.
Think of something that you’ve accomplished in your life so far, something you’re proud of. It could be a skill that you’ve mastered, a career that you’ve built, a quality that you’ve developed, a relationship that you’ve cultivated, a child that you’ve raised. And then take yourself through the same process I used:
Recall all your experiences leading up to that accomplishment so far
Reflect on the flow of one event to the other
Ask yourself what you learned, and then
Extract the principles that the rest of us can use to bring value into our lives.
And don’t be surprised at how much you’ll end up teaching yourself about yourself. And teaching the rest of us, too, if you’d care to share.
I hope you do.
Technorati Tags: reflection, speaking, teaching
06.13.10
I’m not going to begin to try and count the number of people I know or people I’ve met who’ve told me they’re “going to write a book some day.” I can tell you how many of those I know or have met who have actually gone on to do it, and then get it published.
Two.
Robert Thompson. (And The Offsite is a cool little book, too).
And Tommy Spaulding, my oft-mentioned GTY. (It’s Not Just Who You Know, is coming out at the end of the summer).
You get the point: aspiring is one thing; doing is quite another.
So, for the somedayI’mgonnabeawriters out there, here’s a great opportunity to get off your aspiration and do something:
Biz Book Pitchfest 2010, a joint contest from Networlding and crowdSPRING, gives you the chance to pitch your idea to a panel of judges. Namely, Kevin Small, Sarah Miller Caldicott, Brett Farmiloe, Melissa Giovagnoli, and yours truly. And if you go on to win, get that puppy published.
There’s only a week left to enter, so to get all the details (and see if you qualify) go on over to Networlding now.
I promise not to Simon-Cowell you.
06.09.10
Last week, my friends at the Orange County Department of Education hosted our inaugural Extreme Leadership in Education event at their facility in Costa Mesa, California. (Read my previous post about it here).
It was a phenomenal day, that, frankly, I had very little to do with. I showed up and did my thing, but the OCDE team did all the heavy lifting.
I can’t tell you how proud I am to be associated with them.
Fellow OCDE “Leapster,” Deborah Granger, wrote the following brief synopsis of the morning’s events. More details to come; in the meantime, this will give you a fly-on-the-wall glimpse of what transpired. Here’s Deb:
Goals:
Introduce “Distinguished School” principals to Tenets and Frameworks associated with Extreme Leadership
Develop and Share Personal Leadership Stories
Expose Themes Undergirding Extreme Leadership
Consider possibilities of Extreme Leadership principles in action in our schools
Event and Process:
Over 40 elementary school principals representing schools recently recognized in California as “Distinguished Schools” attended a breakfast celebration. Each guest received a copy of The Radical LEAP, and Steve Farber provided an inspiring and energizing presentation on the principles of extreme leadership.
Dave Pinter described how LEAP principles influence his work as principal of Finnegan Elementary School in Florida. OCDE “Leapsters” provided the event guests with LEAP-related guiding questions, as well as a protocol for telling their leadership stories and discovering the extreme leaders within each of them.
As the principals shared their stories with one another, key themes emerged, including the critical importance of communication, relationship building, and creating a space in which their teachers can do their best work.
At the event’s conclusion, guests were invited to reflect on and share the impact of the morning on them. The response was unanimously and overwhelming positive, with principals sharing how the event provided them with a new paradigm: Where they had felt like isolated islands, now they felt like lots of ships in the same sea rowing in the same direction. They shared some of their audacious goals and actions as well as a number of OS!M examples (i.e., one principal who dramatically shared with the staff that their students will not be victimized by the financial situation of the state, and another who fended off policy managers until the school could prove that its home-grown plan for student success was working).
Steve concluded with a GTY challenge: that each principal should find at least one person to take on as a GTY Project.
Effects:
Many guests lingered in the foyer following the event. They spent time talking, sharing more stories, and trading contact information. Many others approached those of us involved with the event and offered highest praise and appreciation. We concluded the morning with a promise to send a Survey Monkey shortly (currently being developed) to glean their ideas about how to move this forward – and look forward to their responses.
Quotes From Principals in Attendance:
Erin K: “When today came around, I didn’t want to come. I almost turned around. It was the best decision in the world to be here. I cannot tell you how much I needed this!”
Michelle M: “Now I know I’m doing the right thing.”
Anon: “I thought it was crazy to be invited to something at such an impacted time of the year, but now that I’ve been here, I cannot imagine not attending. I cannot thank you enough.”
Technorati Tags: education, leadership, orange county department of education, principals, teachers, the radical leap
06.07.10
People often ask me whom I consider to be the most inspiring and effective of leaders, and mostly they expect me to call out the famous folks–like Jobs, or Gates, or Lincoln or Washington or Mother Theresa.
But I prefer to answer the question from personal experience and not from what I’ve gleaned about people by watching the news, and reading articles and history books. And I’ve never met Steve, or Bill, or Abe, or George, or Mother T.
But I have met Dick Nettell, and he is, hands down, the finest Extreme Leader I’ve met in 20 years of working with leaders across the spectrum of public and private organizations. When we first met, Dick was a VP at Bank of America (pre aquisition by NationsBank ) where he ran the check-processing operation, among other things. I wrote about him in The Radical Edge (bonus points for anyone who finds the reference), but there’s so much more to tell. If you’d read his recommendations on LinkedIn, you’d get a taste of what I mean. There are 41 of them.
Last I checked, I had 8.
I’m telling you about Dick now, because the last time he and I talked, he was finally getting around to writing a book of his own (he’s retired from BofA), and I want to encourage him to finish it. This is my way of giving him a nudge.
In the meantime, he recently posted this tidbit over on our GTY Project Group. I gave it a slight edit (I can’t help it!), and I’m happy to share it with you here. As far as Dick’s wisdom and experience goes, this is the tip of the tip of the iceberg:
“Years ago, my biggest single weakness (and I had a lot) was my tendency to react very quickly to situations, without thinking through the impact my words may have on others. I had a new boss, whose career had been sidetracked for just this weakness.
“One day, after an event where I went off on someone half-cocked, he came into my office and shut the door. I has in the middle of budgets, with papers scattered around my desk as I double checked a spreadsheet with a calculator (yep, it was a long time ago). He asked me what I would do if I found an error.
“‘I’d fix it,’ I replied.
“‘No,’ he said. ‘What specific action would you take?’
“‘I’d erase it and start over.’
“He then held out his hand and asked for the pencil I was using. He held it up and pointed at the eraser and said, ‘Dick, they don’t make one of these for dealing with people. If you are writing something or adding up columns of numbers and you make an error, you can simply erase and correct, and it’s as through the error never occurred. They don’t make an eraser for dealing with people. People might forgive an error, but they will never forget. You have to live with that.’
“That had a huge impact on me. Not only did I not forget, it systemically changed my approach, especially during ‘moments of truth.’ Because of his gift of coaching I was able to not only turn a weakness into a strength, but to share this with countless teammates over the years.”
And thanks, Dick, for sharing that with us.
We’re all looking forward to much, much more.
Aren’t we, folks?
Technorati Tags: advice, dick nettell, leadership, mentoring, writing
06.03.10
Last week we discussed advice that A) someone we respected gave us, and B) we ignored and disregarded. It’s a good lesson about following our own hearts but with somewhat of a negative spin, I suppose.
In the interest of yin/yang, etc, let’s take a look at the flip side.
I recently asked members of the GTY Project Group on LinkedIn to answer this question: “What’s the best bit of advice, coaching or counsel you’ve ever gotten from a mentor, colleague, family member or friend?” Here are some of the gems that emerged from that discussion. If you’d like to see the whole list (so far) and who said what (and why), please pop on over to LinkedIn and join our group.
And–as always–feel free to add to the list in the comment section below:
“Be yourself. Oscar Wilde, I think, said, ‘Be yourself because everyone else is taken.’”
“Helping other people achieve what is important to them is the easiest way to achieve what is important to us.”
“Don’t mistake compassion for weakness.”
“If you think it needs to be done, just do it.”
“Do what you like least, first.”
“A formal education and specialized training open the door for an individual to choose their career – which in turn allows for an enjoyable, rewarding, and successful work experience.”
“You are not the best, but there is no one any better!”
“Doing something remarkable for yourself is good, but doing something remarkable for someone else is great.”
“You are never too big to sweep the floor.”
“Ask, ‘Who have you helped today?’ and ‘What have you learned?’”
“Don’t live to work. Work to live.”
“Be happy with the job you have and you will get the job you want.”
“Reaching out will bring you more happiness and success than reaching up.”
“Fun and laughter are legitimate values and I could/should continue melding them with my professional life.”
“Look out for people who, for whatever reason, can’t look out for themselves.”
“Having permission [from my boss] to make a mistake was a very important lesson that has served me well over the years.”
“Always leave the other guy a place to stand.”
“Remember that everyone is doing their best.”
“Be Real, Be Yourself and Have Fun!”
Technorati Tags: advice, coaching, greater than yourself, leadership, mentoring
06.01.10
When you go to download the GTY Certificate, there’s a form that asks you to give some painless information about yourself, including how you plan on using the document–which is really just another way to ask about your motivation for taking on this GTY endeavor.
There’s a lot of wisdom in these responses, so I’ve posted a slew of them below. Read, learn, and reflect. And then, if you feel so moved, go ahead and add your own in the comment section (or download one for your GTY and add your response there):
“I work at it every day to make sure I am open and giving of my knowledge to my new assistant. I will give this to her so that she knows I am honestly dedicated to sharing all of my knowledge and experience to help her be better at her job.”
“I plan to use this in my current team to start pushing my senior techs to pick a GTY project for the next year to build up the newer techs to grow into their roles.”
“I’ve got someone who works for me that has unlimited potential and needs a mentor. The GTY initiative is the perfect opportunity.”
“I will use this with my new recruiter to help develop her confidence and skill.”
“I have a colleague who goes beyond all expectations. She makes sure that our team is organized and well prepared for all that we do. Even more, she has a wealth of knowledge regarding contacts who can make a positive and life-changing impact on the children we serve.”
“I have a number of folks that I am mentoring and evaluating for my own GTY project(s). I plan to use it as a way of introducing them to the concept and as a commitment of myself to them.”
“I always loved being a manager and motivating people to perform and launch them to success. My current job has no direct reports so I am missing that. It’s glorious to be able to make an impact!”
“I plan on giving this to my son who just came out of rehab.”
“I plan to use this as a guide to encourage my two tweenagers to understand how blessed their life is. Our family leans toward community service oriented projects, and I feel that it is necessary to teach others how to do something rather than just doing it for them. I am trying to raise the awareness of leadership in myself and my family so that we may pass that knowledge along to others.”
“[This certificate is] for some close family members. They know things have been tough over the past couple of years… I want them to forever treasure their family, as I do, and to do good for other people in small ways that make a difference. Yesterday, I got the light on my car repaired at no cost… how generous that man was… a gift to me that I so appreciated. Small things like that really make a difference in peoples’ lives.”
“I have been inspired to give this to a young lady who has had a hard start in life, who also has an amazing attitude and huge potential, and I am going to see if I can do a little toward helping her achieve success on all levels. She has already signed on to learn how to become a social media consultant with me, and I want to use this certificate to inspire her to take on more of what I have to teach her about life. I have overcome a few things myself, I have risen to success out of a poor marriage and ‘cured’ my MS (non longer confined to a wheelchair) and am a successful Social Media author, speaker and consultant with 4 kids and 5 grandkids.”
“[This certificate is] to keep me focused on what is important to me and also to display in my office so that others see it and ask [about GTY]. This isn’t an office where you push your ideas, but rather suck others in and open their eyes to the options and opportunities beyond their status quo.”
“As a test, I plan to use this certificate in conjunction with the review process to strengthen my relationships with those I work with who report to me. If the results are as I expect they will be, I will share this with other managers and supervisors in my organization along with the GTY concept.”
“I am a retired elementary principal who now coaches other principals and teaches students in graduate education programs. I plan to use the pledge, as I’ve done with Steve’s books, to inspire individuals to reach beyond themselves to better serve students, colleagues, and parents.”
“I plan on giving it to my children and each of my direct reports. But I will be giving it to each person, one at a time, with about a week in between each one so that I can dedicate my focus to each person for an entire week.”
And, finally, in the spirit of keeping us grounded, there’s this:
“There is someone in my organization that needs to learn that it’s not all about sucking up.”
And ain’t that always the the truth?
Technorati Tags: greater than yourself, GTY, leadership, mentoring
