If you haven't already done so, please find some time to read David Foster Wallace's commencement speech at Kenyon College (2005).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122178211966454607.html
I must stay present - in this very moment - to be fully alive.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Distributed Leadership
The following description of Distributed Leadership is the work of Gary Heil, with a few additions by yours truly.
Leadership is the responsibility of every employee. We cannot afford non-leaders at any level in the company. We, therefore, are not given our ability to lead from our bosses. The opportunity to lead is a right given when we are hired. The authority to lead is granted by those we hope might follow.
Distributed Leadership does not mean that every person gets to make all the decisions that they want to make in the company. It does mean that they have the responsibility to speak freely, to be informed, to challenge, to learn, to invest creative ideas and to fully participate in the process of creating the future. It means that all leaders have an obligation to create an environment where these behaviors are not only possible but an environment where these actions are encouraged and supported.
People who have successfully created a culture where leadership and learning are distributed tend to share a common set of beliefs:
Ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
Under the right conditions people seek responsibility for making a difference.
People would rather excel than be average.
Remarkable people want to work around other remarkable people.
People need to find meaning in their work.
People want their work to matter.
People will contribute more if they are truly satisfied by their work.
People will be more satisfied by their work if they are clear about how to contribute and are able to do so in ways that are meaningful to them.
Leaders have a moral responsibility to create an environment where people can grow toward their potential while making a difference for the organization.
It matters how you play the game: the end does not justify the means.
People want to be held accountable for their contribution.
People prefer positive and hopeful rather than negative and pessimistic.
Trust must be given before it is earned.
People want to get better.
People don’t resist change; they resist being changed.
The way people think is often more important then the tools they use.
People will act as leaders the way they were led as followers.
What you tolerate you teach.
I'd love to hear your additions and your comments and I'd especially love to know that you passed this along to inspire others to make it real in their organizations.
Leadership is the responsibility of every employee. We cannot afford non-leaders at any level in the company. We, therefore, are not given our ability to lead from our bosses. The opportunity to lead is a right given when we are hired. The authority to lead is granted by those we hope might follow.
Distributed Leadership does not mean that every person gets to make all the decisions that they want to make in the company. It does mean that they have the responsibility to speak freely, to be informed, to challenge, to learn, to invest creative ideas and to fully participate in the process of creating the future. It means that all leaders have an obligation to create an environment where these behaviors are not only possible but an environment where these actions are encouraged and supported.
People who have successfully created a culture where leadership and learning are distributed tend to share a common set of beliefs:
Ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
Under the right conditions people seek responsibility for making a difference.
People would rather excel than be average.
Remarkable people want to work around other remarkable people.
People need to find meaning in their work.
People want their work to matter.
People will contribute more if they are truly satisfied by their work.
People will be more satisfied by their work if they are clear about how to contribute and are able to do so in ways that are meaningful to them.
Leaders have a moral responsibility to create an environment where people can grow toward their potential while making a difference for the organization.
It matters how you play the game: the end does not justify the means.
People want to be held accountable for their contribution.
People prefer positive and hopeful rather than negative and pessimistic.
Trust must be given before it is earned.
People want to get better.
People don’t resist change; they resist being changed.
The way people think is often more important then the tools they use.
People will act as leaders the way they were led as followers.
What you tolerate you teach.
I'd love to hear your additions and your comments and I'd especially love to know that you passed this along to inspire others to make it real in their organizations.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Self-inspired
The first time I truly inspired myself was when I wrote this letter. It was October, 2005 in Santa Barbara and I was a participant in LifeLaunch, a personal discovery and renewal workshop offered by the Hudson Institute. I was there in the mindset of fulfilling a pre-requisite for their coaching program and then I wrote a letter to myself that changed me forever.
Dear David,
I’ve always believed in you and I’ve always known that the special combination of qualities, talents, skills and attributes that have come together to form your personality would sustain you in leading a vibrant, meaningful and exciting life.
Why did you stop taking risks? What are you so afraid of?
Where’s the high school kid who talked his way into meeting Kissinger and owned the stage? Where’s the boldness - the sheer force of personality that changes the energy of a room, draws people to you, creates opportunity and brings you joy? I challenge you to reclaim that. I challenge you to lead the second half of your life – starting now – to deliver what is most essentially you: strength of character, passion for aesthetic beauty, and absolute belief that you can and should associate with the best and brightest minds of your generation.
Stop second-guessing yourself. Knock off this shit about measuring up, comparing, critiquing. Reclaim the 16-year-old and choose that you are going to apply all of that positive confidence and deliberate living in a new and more powerful way. Think about it: with all that you’ve learned - all of your experience, reading and maturity – if you combine that with the risk-taking, possibility-craving attitude of that young man you will be an unstoppable, irresistible force.
Somewhere along the way you started to play it safe, to stay clean. You got too serious and you dampened the purity of you. I implore you, I challenge you, to lighten up, get dirty and take some risks – model a life lived in exultation and expectation.
I am proud of you.
I want to be inspired by you.
Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy
I can't recommend this documentary highly enough - for inspiration, creativity, aliveness, presence, learning, development and recovery.
This is required viewing for anyone who influences organizations and their leaders. It is a portal to a way of being within any system that shatters the tired and well-worn patterns we have with our work our workplace and our colleagues.
A Development Culture is an Innovation Culture
Leaders who are intense about their own development and who create accountability and offer support for the ongoing development of their teams and peers create, perhaps without even knowing it, a culture of innovation.
Why is this so?
Intensity about development means one is willing to take an honest look at oneself, see the good and the bad from a perspective of appreciation and empathy and decide to do something about it. This is a distinctly humanizing act and if others see this and have a chance to participate in the leader's development "conversation" they are more likely to see the leader as fully human (check out the Johari Window). If that's the case they are a heck of a lot more likely to be open with ideas, suggestions and possibilities. They might even give more of their discretionary effort, that part of ourselves we choose to give or not give to our work depending on how safe and open the leader has made the environment. If it's safe and open more gets discussed, put on the table, debated and explored. That's a culture of innovation.
So, what does this mean for our organizations?
It means that we must offer professional coaching, leadership and management development opportunities because we believe - perhaps more boldly, we know - that if more leaders, those with direct responsibility for creating the environment, are more actively pursuing development, more good stuff happens. And, in this equation, more good stuff equals more employees offering more of their best selves to the company every day.
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