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Leadership: The Great Differentiator

Put yourself in the setting with the best leader you ever worked with – what was it like?

What was the impact on your life, your family, your friends?

Now put yourself in the setting with the worst leader you ever worked with – what was that like?

What was the impact on your life, your family, your friends?

How far reaching were the impacts of the leadership you experienced? The impacts were extensive, weren’t they?

Did you ever come home from a day of interaction with those individuals and talk about them?

What were your emotions? Happiness, motivated, anxiety, dread?

Who do you want to work for? Dumb question isn’t it?

Now put yourself in the shoes of those who work for and with you. What is it like?

What is the impact you are having on their lives? When they go home what are they saying about your leadership and how do they feel?

You have an impact on the lives of those around you and the people close to them. Your leadership differentiates you and the quality of the lives of your associates, especially your direct reports.

So how are you doing and what is your leadership trajectory?

I bet in you have an image of the type of leader you are and a vision of the path you are on. Is it accurate? How can you prove its accuracy?

You need feedback. Honest unvarnished feedback from all sides; those above, adjacent, and below you. Then what? Use it! Use the feedback to establish and validate your starting point relative to your vision. Isn’t this what you do every day your direct reports?

What do leaders do? First, leaders set the vision for their organization and people. Then they continually monitor progress by assessing, measuring, providing feedback, and making changes to achieve their vision. They do the same to develop their people.

Why then do leaders fail to do the same for their growth? A couple of prominent reasons I have found are, 1) because leaders feel they can evaluate themselves accurately and 2) they are reticent to hear the feedback, specifically from a 360-degree evaluation.

Reality, we all need feedback and assistance to attain our vision. Particularly if you are a leader dealing out a lot of feedback. The truth, everyone already knows the answers – except you. Your mannerisms, quirks, and frequent sayings are all part of daily conversations with those around you. You have blind spots negatively impacting your ability to lead and those around you want to reveal them. They want you to be a better leader.

How do you feel about the individual who takes feedback well, asks for assistance, and is continually working to improve themselves? It usually differentiates that person. Is that an image you project?

Leadership is the great differentiator and your leadership is differentiating you. Do you know how?

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Global Good Fund – Veteran Leaders Program

Veteran Leaders: Win $10,000 and World-Class Business Coaching with Gary Slyman, USNA ‘81

Veteran leaders, listen to the Service Academy Business MasterMind Podcast at:  https://www.sabmgroup.com/global-good-fund

You have the opportunity to win $10,000 to assist you in developing your leadership to lead your social enterprise. The deadline is 31 August 2018.

 

 

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Leadership is the Great Differentiator

In the business world you hear constant talk of differentiating yourself and your business. How to differentiate yourself is not hard. If you are a leader you outperform your peers. If your company has a culture of leadership you will out perform your competition.

What is hard is being a leader and creating a leadership culture. What does it take? It takes starting with a solid foundation:

  1. Establishing your vision
  2. A ruthless assessment of where you are today
  3. The soul searching process of validating your values
  4. Taking consistent disciplined actions to live by and run your organization aligned with your values

Easier said than done. Do you know of any individuals or organizations that articulate and consistently live by their values? If you do, I will venture that they are high performing trusted individuals and organizations and seen as leaders.

What actions are you taking to develop yourself as a leader and develop a leadership culture for your organization? If your actions are not based on the foundation of values what is the foundation? Set a solid foundation for your actions otherwise you are destined to be in the middle of pack – just ordinary.

Leadership differentiates you and your organization from the ordinary.

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Leadership Reflection: Do I Demonstrate the Responsibility of a Leader?

You have the experience, the technical expertise, and are accountable for your people and the results of the organization. Are you fulfilling the responsibilities of the leader?

Reflect on the following:

Do you feel your responsibility as a leader? To reach a leadership position you must have a number of prerequisite skills and experiences. But to truly be a leader you must feel the responsibility of your position. Military leaders readily talk about how they feel the responsibility of keeping their charges safe. Business owners clearly feel the internal pull their responsibilities have on them. Until you feel that strain – you are not a leader you are merely in a leadership position.

Take the perspective of a subordinate; ever observe a leader who did not feel the responsibility of leadership? Put that picture in your mind and recall what it looked like. Did they truly care about the critical issues? Did they resolve challenges no matter the personal cost, or were they able to walk away with the intent to resolve it later. The responsibility of leadership is a selflessness that puts others and the mission before self.

Leaders carry the burden of responsibility and can feel its gravity. Good leaders do not buckle under the load, but shoulder it without complaint. How does your leadership responsibility feel and look? Do others see the responsibility of leadership on your face? Should they?

Do you take action on your responsibilities? At times the burden of responsibility can be paralyzing. The information is not perfect and the results not always positive, however being responsible requires taking action. Sometimes your action may be incrementally small, while other times grave and drastic. Nonetheless, action is required, based on the reality of your situation and your position as a leader. Action establishes your credibility as a leader. Fail to act and you undermine your credibility. How do you act on your responsibilities?

Do you own your responsibilities?  You alone are responsible for your decisions, actions, and inactions as a leader. Ever experience a leader who would not take responsibility for their own decisions or lack thereof? How do your subordinates talk about you in this area? Respect is garnered by taking responsibility.

There are many facets of being a leader, with few being more important than accepting and acting on the responsibilities of leadership. How did you do with this short reflection? If you don’t feel the weight of your leadership responsibilities, if you don’t act on them, and own them, you are not a leader. You are merely standing in front of a group.

 

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Founders and CEO’s Grow as a Leader or Go Away!

As the Founder or CEO you are the determining factor for the growth or lack of growth of your business. While there are a large number of variables in running a business, particularly a startup, how is it possible to pin the limitation or advantage on one thing or person? This is what Bob Tinker the CEO of MobileIron had to say in a talk at Stanford:

“…as the company grows, the CEO job changes, so what that means is you have to change. The way you behave, how you work, and even change on the inside.”

Pretty simple from his standpoint, you have to change and grow in many areas as the company grows. Okay, but there are other factors besides the CEO. What about all those articles touting the top reasons startups fail or succeed? Rarely do they state leadership as the only factor; it is usually timing, cash flow, market, or product failure. Failure and success is a product of a combination of factors.

Let’s look at the success side. Neil Patel in a 2015 Forbes article looks at the common elements of the 10% of startups that succeed. He came up with these four: they have a product that meets a need, they don’t ignore anything, they grow fast, and they recover from the hard-knock startup life. Does that sound like leadership to you? Let’s break it down further.

  • The product meets a need – I interpret that as vision, mission, and market research.
  • They don’t ignore anything – Attention to detail, process, and procedures.
  • They grow fast-They keep pace with a dynamic market, adjust, adapt, and learn.
  • They recover from the hard knock startup life -The company matures into a sustainable well functioning organization.

Maybe it does sound like leadership.

In 2015 CB Insights published a study of the 20 top reasons startups failed using data from 101 failed startups. In an analysis of the reasons Geoffrey James of Inc., placed them into the following seven groups: arrogance (85%), shortsightedness (55%), hubris (47%), egotism (36%), sloppiness (34%), imbalance (30%), and inflexibility (17%). Wow, that is a humbling list that screams leadership.

Here is a testimonial from Scott Cook of Intuit assessing his leadership growth as CEO.

“I wasn’t growing as the company was growing, personally. And so I made the decision after 11 years as CEO that I should hire a CEO who had the skills I didn’t. Because I felt I was holding the company back. And after all those struggles and pains, I didn’t want to be the guy hurting us.”

That is a humble admission from a leader who grew the company from nothing to a household name.

The message: your development as a leader is the cornerstone of success for your business. The sooner you take ownership of your leadership development the better for you, your customers, and your employees. Bob Tinker created a CEO’s Oath for himself and here is part of it:

“…I recognize that very few things can screw up a company more than founder drama. And if we are fortunate enough, the company grows beyond us, that I will step aside gracefully for the good of the mission.”

True leaders are in it for the mission. Companies serious about success continually develop the leadership capacity of their leaders. As the leader of your company where are you on the leadership development continuum?

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Event: Coaching Office Hours at WeWork Whitehouse

The best performers in every field have a coach to optimize their performance. Why don’t you?

If you want to accelerate your professional growth or the growth of your organization/startup/business stop by our office hours for a free 30 minutes coaching session. Explore any area of your life or business you want to improve or just experience what coaching is and what it can do for you.

Sign up at: https://docs.google.com/…/1df3uzUvGzsJ58eKX7MAZsto3Id…/edit…

You will meet with Gary Slyman a professional coach, leadership educator, and trainer. His focus is to empower you to transition to the next level of performance by developing your leadership capacity. For more information go to: www.GreatTransitionsStrategies.com or contact him directly at: gary@greatransitionsstrategies.com

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Leadership Reflection: Do You Really Care?

It is difficult to find a leader who would answer the above question with a “No”. However, how do those you lead and serve know you care and what you care about? There are two ways to communicate your level of care: The depth of your commitment and level of accountability to your vision, your work, your teammates, and your customers communicate – you care.

What is meant by commitment? It is doing the small things consistently correct. Attention to detail in your interactions is contagious to those around you. It sends the universal message that details are important. The more you know about your endeavor and those with you on the journey, the louder the message. When you tend to details of your vision, your, work, your teammates, and customers those around you sense – you care.

The depth of your accountability and to whom is the second element that transmits – you care. As a leader you are accountable first to yourself for your vision and work. Being true to yourself takes care of any superiors you may answer to. A close second are teammates and customers. Being able to look your teammates and customers in the eye and be accountable for your work ethic, performance, and results sends the clear message – you care.

Put the theory to the test. Pick two leaders that stand out to you as caring. Think of an icon and one of your leaders.

An icon that comes to mind is Steve Jobs. He was committed to making Apple into a force that delivered life-changing products. He was known for his relentless obsession with details, how employees performed, each product, and the Apple experience. On commitment it was clear – he cared.

On accountability, he was just as relentless. He set the vision for the company and pursued it with passion, being his own worst critic. He used continuous feedback from within Apple and customers to improve products to reach new standards. Demonstrating accountability to his teammates and customers. His methods and the fervor with his approach invite much criticism. However, there has never been any doubt – he cared.

Now put yourself to the test. Take time to reflect and provide specific examples on the following questions:

  • How committed am I to the details of the organization I lead?
    • My vision, my work, my teammates, and my customers
  • What is the depth of my accountability for my vision and work to:
    • My self, my teammates, and my customers

Consider receiving feedback by using the above questions as a 360-degree evaluation. Have your teammates and customers answer the same questions as you just did. Does the thought of asking and receiving this feedback make you nervous? Consider this: everyone except you already knows the answers. It will show your commitment and increase the depth of your accountability. Take the risk and get the feedback. It shows – you care.

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Leaders: The Most Important Business Book You Will Ever Read.

How many Startups or businesses have you seen fail because of the relationship between the leadership team?

If there were specific actions you could take to almost guarantee a positive relationship amongst your leadership team, would you take them?

John Gottman, PhD a relationship researcher has developed the ability to predict with over 91% accuracy the success or failure of marriages for the subjects in his studies. Through his research he identified seven principles that are predictors of healthy lasting relationships and documented them in “The 7 Principles for Making a Marriage Work.” https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Principles-Making-Marriage-Work/dp/0609805797

As founders the relationship with your cofounder or leadership team is a marriage. You go through the best and the worst of times together and are committed to making your business work in sickness or health. Read or better yet listen (multiple times) to the audiobook and apply the 7 Principles. Applying the 7 Principles to all your relationships, not only your leadership team, will dramatically improve the probability of success for your business.

What are the 7 principles? Here is the link to a short clip of Dr. Gottman at the start of a workshop listing the 7 Principles: https://youtu.be/AEF3OdvNNzk

 

 

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Leadership Coaching Workshop: Come Experience the Benefits of Having a Coach

Leadership Coaching Workshop: The Gift of You as A More Capable Leader for 2017

Wednesday, 11 January 2017, Dupont Circle, 10th Floor Conference Room 10I

1875 Connecticut Ave, Washington DC

If you could do ONE thing to make yourself stand out as a professional would you do it?

Come grab your morning coffee and join Professional Coach Gary Slyman for a free interactive workshop to begin accelerating your growth as a leader. The two goals of the workshop are:

  • To help you build the vision of the leader you want to be
  • To help you assess your current leadership capabilities

This workshop will bring the benefits of thoughtful introspection, increased self-awareness, and the foundation for your leadership development journey, for 2017.

Program Schedule   9:00 AM – 11:00 AM

9:00 AM – 9:30 AM Check in and grab a cup of Joe

9:30 AM – 10:30 AM Presentation

10:30 AM – 11:00 AM Q&A and Wrap up

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Give Yourself and Those Around You the Gift of a Better You!

If you could do just ONE thing to improve yourself at work and at home would you do it?

Well there is one thing you can do: invest in yourself by hiring a professional coach. You will benefit from a partner wholly focused on empowering you to be the person you want to be. Your coach will assist you in assessing and understanding your full capabilities and work with you to set and attain your goals.
To learn more go to www.GreatTransitionsStrategies.com and set up an appointment for a complementary coaching session to experience the power coaching can have on your life.
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