A friend once told me how happy he was after changing jobs to a very technical design role. “the best thing” he said, “is I don’t have to deal with people any more…” The trouble with people is that they’re all different. And often difficult. The trouble with leadership is…
153. What are you Practicing?
Successful people don’t have 7 habits. More like 70. Or 700. The reason they’re successful is they have more good habits than bad. Just as great athletes or musicians train for muscle memory, so too great leaders train for behaviour memory. Almost all behaviour is habit based. Especially when stress…
152. Where do you meet?
I’ve worked with leaders who spent very little of their time with their own people in their workplace. Physical interaction wasn’t part of their job. They weren’t unfriendly, just distant. And isolated. And weaker as a result. They never knew what they were missing. Most failed as leaders. I’ve also…
151. How are we Connected?
Great football teams don’t play great basketball. They’re great at football because they focus on football. They live for football, think and talk about football, play football. Football is the cement that binds the team together. They might play basketball, but it’s not the game that they’re connected to. It’s…
150. Who don’t you like?
We all have blind spots. The trouble with blind spots is you don’t know you have them. You don’t know what you don’t know. There’s a clue you can use however. A hack that strong leaders make a habit. The trick is simply to be aware of what, and who…
149. Why Connect?
There are lots of things we do without personally interacting with other humans. Digital technology allows us to be less connected. Not just human interaction but physical connection with things we use or rely on. Where does your drinking water come from? Who fixes your plumbing? How was your phone…
148. Are you in a Routine?
Delaying immediate gratification is what differentiates adults from children. It also separates strong leaders from weak. Routines and repetition are vital for effective leadership. All the goal setting, action, communication, measuring and sweat in the world count for nothing if not repeated. You don’t teach your subconscious mind anything by…
147. How do you treat Distractions?
I once worked in a team that set new priorities every week. Our leader regularly used their weekends to come up with fresh ideas and send out detailed directions, often followed by high energy discussions on Monday morning. Those same directions would often be swamped by new ones the following…
146. Where’s the Mess?
It can be tempting to walk around something that’s not working. Especially if it’s not your something. A broken chair, a dirty bathroom, an argument between colleagues, a project thats late. The funny thing is that a single event, say a waiter drops a plate of food in a restaurant,…
145. Why get organized?
Discipline is boring. That’s exactly why it’s useful. If you only want stimulation and excitement, you won’t get much done. We all have to do boring and repetitive things to stay alive and to prosper. In the end we do the interesting things better because we spend time on the…