Leadership Traits | All About Being "Emotionally Agile"

December 21, 2014

Leadership on a Hope and a Prayer

Real leadership is not done on a hope and a prayer. Yet all too often I hear, “I’ll figure it out as I go along and hope for the best.” Or, in the church world, “We will just pray hard and hope for a miracle.”

I will not, I repeat, I will not turn this into a theological debate. In fact, one is not necessary since most of us will agree that God is big enough to bail us out of any problem that we get ourselves into.

But, is it leadership when we count a miraculous intervention?

Many us flirt with a dangerous mixture of optimism and carelessness. Words like, “I’ll figure something out” have come out of my mouth on many occasions. This is not a strategy. It is not a responsible leadership approach. In fact, often it only serves to “kick the can down the road” and say that we will deal with it later.

Hope is not a strategy!

Many times I am left to wonder what someone is thinking when I see that person in a bad situation that is getting worse, yet they seem to have no clue. They often have no strategic plan, no initiative, and no sense of urgency. Continue reading “Leadership on a Hope and a Prayer”

December 6, 2014

Can You Have Success In Leadership Without Struggle?

Can you? I am really asking this question. And I am of the opinion that you do not. Notice that I didn’t say “cannot.” Because I suppose it is mathematically possible. But I think struggle is certainly the norm.

I understand that this is an unpopular stance. Societally, we think of struggle as being a negative thing. At the very least society assumes you are doing it wrong if you are struggling. There’s a cultural stigma attached to struggling.

Real leaders know that it’s not all smiley faces. Struggle and leadership go hand in hand. But we don’t talk about it enough. Most folks want to hear about the success and the gain. They want to celebrate the success and, to be honest, many folks covet the benefits and gains of success.

Leadership books are not written from the midst of the struggle–even though leadership is based on the art of struggle. These books are written after the point of success and the pain of the struggle is long passed. We look at these success stories but unfortunately we draw the wrong conclusions.

What are some of the wrong conclusions that we draw? Continue reading “Can You Have Success In Leadership Without Struggle?”

November 24, 2014

Does It Pay To Be Emotionally Intelligent?

Would you agree with me that the ability to “read” people would be a handy skill to have? According to a recent paper in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, if you’re good at discerning other people’s emotions, you are probably bringing home a bigger paycheck than your emotionally challenged co-workers and colleagues.

Now, I am not suggesting that money is the greatest motivator. In fact, studies have shown that money is a terrible long-term motivator with affects being seen for only the briefest of time. But money (income) does affect our actions and behaviors.

Recently, some researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany showed a group of study volunteers a series of images and voice recordings and asked them to identify the emotions being expressed. “On average, the participants succeeded in 77 percent of the cases,” lead author Gerhard Blickle, a psychology professor at the university, said in the press release. “People who succeeded in 87 percent of the cases were considered to be good, and people who succeeded in more than 90 percent of the cases were considered really good. Those below 60 percent, in contrast, were seen as not so good in recognizing emotions.”

Blickle and colleagues also sought information about the careers of their study participants, including basic facts like income along with more subjective information gathered from interviews with people who worked with the participants. Those who scored higher on the emotions task were also rated as more socially skilled by their colleagues and supervisors, and they tended to make more money than people who scored lower on the emotion-reading task.

I believe that the finding makes intuitive sense. People who are more socially adept are usually more adept at navigating the work environment and keeping the “boss” happy. At any rate, this work suggests that it literally pays to be emotionally intelligent.

So what is the leadership lesson from this study? Continue reading “Does It Pay To Be Emotionally Intelligent?”

November 6, 2014

Leading With Humility

We have just experienced a bit of a momentous election here in the U.S. And we are seeing changes in the upcoming Congress such as have not been seen since Herbert Hoover was president. Regardless of your political affiliation and whether or not your side gained or lost, how will our newly elected or re-elected representatives lead?

I have written in the past on the recently elected pope and I would suggest again that Pope Francis may have some more words of wisdom for our elected leaders.

Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina chose the name “Francis” when he became the first Jesuit pope of the Catholic Church in March 2013. Inspired by the modesty of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis anchors his philosophy and approach to life in humility. After the selection of Argentinian Jesuit Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope in March 2013, his humility, caring and willingness to be vulnerable captured the fancy of Catholics and non-Catholics around the world. Pope Francis, who labels himself a “sinner,” famously asked, “Who am I to judge?”

In his nearly 40 years as a priest in South America, Bergoglio was as an unpretentious man who took public transportation to visit Catholics and non-Catholics in Argentinian neighborhoods. Fifteen months after he turned 75 – and submitted his mandatory resignation to Pope Benedict XVI – Bergoglio was elected to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, stepping in to head a church plagued by controversy. His tenure as pope thus far exemplifies some important leadership lessons. Humility is one of them.

Pope Francis believes that humility is the single most important leadership characteristic and that everyone should learn to be more humble. For his first public appearance as pope, Francis chose not to stand on a platform that would raise him higher than other cardinals. Before addressing the crowd, he requested a prayer for himself, a decidedly untraditional gesture. Few corporate leaders demonstrate that kind of humility. Continue reading “Leading With Humility”

October 27, 2014

Genuine Leadership

I just returned from a week long business trip to Shanghai, China. It was a mind-blowing experience to say the least. I found the (arguably) largest city on the planet to be a bit overwhelming. The picture that sits atop this opening paragraph is the scene that greeted me when I awoke after arriving in the evening last Friday night and looked out my hotel window from the 55th floor of the JW Marriott in downtown Shanghai early the next morning. It was my first view of the city.

I have been to some very large cities in my personal and business travels. But nothing prepared me for the size and scope of Shanghai. I have been to the top of the Empire State Building and I have looked out over Manhattan and all of metropolitan New York. This was like looking at that view times four!

But that is not the point of today’s article. My point is this. Sometimes you have to look really close to distinguish the genuine from the counterfeit. The concept of copyright and intellectual property is not viewed the same in China as it is in many other parts of the world. As a result, you can by a Rolex gold Presidential watch for about $2,000 in US dollars. Well, not really. But you can get a counterfeit one for that price. Now, I am not talking about the Thailand junk that is basically a cheap movement in not much more than a plastic case. I am talking about a watch with a second hand that moves smoothly around the face. It doesn’t click on the second which is a tell-tale giveaway for fake Rolex’s. These are very high quality watches. They are fairly expensive. They are also fakes. Continue reading “Genuine Leadership”

October 14, 2014

Why Would Anyone Want To Be Led By You? Or Me?

The year is nearly over. Many leaders and leadership teams are taking their annual step back to do a deep-dive assessment of their organization’s progress against the goals and objectives of their strategic plans. (What? You don’t do that at your organization? Maybe that is part of what is holding the organization back.)

As part of your end-of-year strategic progress review, consider including another area of assessment — one that will require a different kind of evaluation and be much more introspective in nature. Why not take some time to also consider how you personally are progressing as a leader? After all, an organization’s strategic performance is, in large part, a direct reflection of the effectiveness of the person at the top.

If you want to silence a room of pastors, executives, or any group of leaders try this small trick. Ask them, “Why would anyone want to be led by you?”

Without fail the response will most likely be a sudden, stunned hush. All you will hear are knees knocking and crickets chirping. Continue reading “Why Would Anyone Want To Be Led By You? Or Me?”

October 7, 2014

Leaders Encourage Vigorous Debate

Great leaders know how to focus on the positive, helpful, edifying and uplifting communication while managing the negative, destructive, decisive and demeaning communication in meetings.

Consider this advice from a seasoned old-timer to a young leader who was still early in his leadership career. It happens to be from the New Testament of the Bible.

“But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.”

Titus 3:9-10

Have you ever been in a meeting that digressed and evolved into almost a free-for-all? As a contrast, have you ever been in a team meeting where the leader encouraged good debates and successfully squashed useless ones?

Such well-managed teams tend to finish their meetings with good plans and they do it on time. The participants feel productive and actually like getting together because everyone feels like they were a part of something productive.

But, back to my brief Biblical text. The Apostle Paul (the old-timer) exhorted a pastor (young leader) named Titus to refrain from arguing about peripheral subjects that divided his followers. And I think that advice is relevant to leadership principles today.

There is a branch of modern communication theory that seems to have grown out of the apostle Paul’s philosophy. In 1968, Sir Charles Geoffrey Vickers, an English lawyer, administrator, writer, and pioneering systems scientist introduced the concept of “appreciative systems”, which later became Appreciative Inquiry (AI). It was really further developed nearly 20 years later at Case Western Reserve University’s department of Organizational Behavior. It started there with an article in 1987 by David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva. They felt that the overuse of “problem solving” as a model often held back analysis and understanding, focusing on problems and limiting discussion of new organizational models. At its core, AI is positive debate that explores what an organization does well and how it can build on its strengths.

As leaders it’s sometimes difficult to limit discussion and keep debates from getting out of control. Continue reading “Leaders Encourage Vigorous Debate”

September 24, 2014

Adaptive Leadership

So many of the world’s problems, and the issues that organizations, businesses, and people face every day can seem intractable and unsolvable. Leadership consultants Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow and Marty Linsky discussed a new way to lead the charge to change in their book in 2009 entitled, “Adaptive Leadership”.

Adaptive Leadership calls for moving beyond outdated approaches and embracing new skills and attitudes to guide your organization in the 21st century. Adaptive leadership combines established ways of leading with new skills and new perspectives for dealing with unprecedented challenges.

But, if it were easy, everyone would be adaptive leaders and everyone would be successful. Before you begin the process of bringing lasting change to an organization you must Continue reading “Adaptive Leadership”

September 22, 2014

Listening for the Future

Great leaders are always “listening for the future” all the while staying grounded in the here and the now.

That sounds impressive and insightful. But what does it mean? Simply, it means that our society is evolving into a noisy, chaotic world; characterized by “volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity” (This is what “Futurist” Bob Johansen refers to as “VUCA”).

Elements of the VUCA paradigm have existed throughout history, but never to the extent evident in the early 21st century. Leaders who make decisions without regard to VUCA realities tend to exhibit various “dysfunctional and dangerous” attitudes and reactions, including fear, disdain, procrastination, frustration, anger and denial. And I am not exactly sure where the anger is strongest. Is it on the side of those who loath their leaders? Or is it on the side of the leaders who loath the burden of leadership?

Nevertheless, there are enduring leadership principles that will hold you in good stead during these VUCA times. Consider the following:

To be on time is to be late. – Get there early. Get there before your team arrives and be ready to greet them as they arrive for the day or for the meeting.
Always start on time. – Don’t punish those who are on time for the sins of those who are late. And don’t go back over what you have already covered for those who do arrive late.
Mental gymnastics. – Build leadership skills through leadership thoughts. Read and study other great leaders.
Actively listen. – But carefully filter what you hear. Make sure that in the midst of your listening that you are not swayed by an emotional message that takes you away from your core values.
Be ready for action. – We are living in a fast paced world and in the face of uncertainty, preparedness is a great benefit.
Practice “urgent patience”. – Know when to press forward and when to ease up on your team.
Be a storyteller. – Use compelling stories to inspire hope in your team.
Observe synchronicity. – Nothing occurs in a vacuum. So explain connections and patterns to help others find the reason for your actions.
Stay positive. – It is easy to succumb to the negativity that surrounds us. We get a steady diet of it on the news and from the media. Do not dwell on this. [I could speak at length here about the importance of being in some type of daily devotional reading, but I will save that for another time and place.]
Don’t spread yourself too thin. – You cannot directly lead a multitude. So, find a small group of leaders to develop and pour yourself into them and make them into great leaders. Don’t make them clones. Make them leaders.

Continue reading “Listening for the Future”

September 17, 2014

Wit & Wisdom from Midland County, TX

I love living in Texas. I usually tell people that I was born in way extreme far east Texas. [better known as Alexandria, Louisiana]. And you get wit & wisdom out of folks in Texas that you don’t seem to find in or around the Capital Beltway. I know, because I lived in that area for quite a while also.

I don’t often tackle politics in my writing. And I really am not trying to tackle politics right now. Instead I think there is a leadership lesson to be learned here. Consider if you will for just a moment Sheriff Gary Painter from Midland County in Texas. Recently he was interviewed on Fox News about the ISIS threat to the United States. Consistent with what he has been saying for at least 8 years he made the following statement. I am providing it below with advance apologies for some of his language as I never want to offend our readers. But here is his quote:

“If they show their ugly head in our area, we’ll send them to hell.
I think the United States needs to get busy and they need to bomb them.
They need to take them out. I would like for them to hit them so hard and so often that every time they hear a propeller on a plane or a jet aircraft engine that they urinate down both legs.”

Contrast that with our President who calls them the “JV squad” and who doesn’t have a plan to deal with them. And ask yourself for a moment, Continue reading “Wit & Wisdom from Midland County, TX”