How Are You?

Three words we say countless times every day. But how often do we wait for the answer, and more importantly, how often do we give the real answer? 

Everyone we know is going through something and it takes humility to understand someone's behavior could be affected by something going on in their life. It's been attributed to a few people but still true that far too often we judge others by their actions and ourselves by our intentions. 

Pass the salt

I was in a situation last week where three of us were out for lunch. One buddy is going through a horrific divorce and the other friend doesn't know him all that well. Cue the awkward when friend number two decides to drop into friend number one's situation (which has been going on for two years) and lob a bunch of advice. Suffice it to say, the lunch ended abruptly. 

Hey, intentionally or unintentionally, we all do it and often we don't mean it. We want to help, offer some advice, and without proper context, purpose solutions. The most difficult challenge in the human condition is our emotional health. 

One in One

If you say you've never had an incident in your life, you're fooling yourself. We have all had at least one and most of us a lot more than one. It's not a splint for a dislocated shoulder or a cast for a fractured ankle; it's a confusing stream of physically undetectable symptoms we can't often describe. 

What bothers me may not even occur to you. What makes you doubtful might not register on my radar. Which gets us back to the compassion of others. So, let's try it this week. Ask someone how they are doing and wait for the answer. 

 You might help someone more than you know. __________________________________________________________________

Ready. Set. Then What?

“It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.” Hugh Laurie 

The second anniversary is not far off. It was the day we heard the phrase - Global Pandemic. It began somewhere far away and quickly became something every human on the planet deals with every day. The coronavirus, Covid-19, variants, vaccines, masks, protests, economies, it's all been too much and we're not out of the woods.

Are We Ready? 

When I was a kid, my parents would try and tell me to enjoy life and not get too caught up in the minutiae. I was always close to my mom, but during the last few years of her life, we had even better conversations about her life, my life, and life in general. This is a woman who put me, my sister, and my dad on her back and somehow got us through. She worked from the age of 14 until she retired at 71. She passed away in August 2020 mere months after this global crisis began. She was born during the second world war and died during the worst human crisis in over a century. 

If I had told mom I wanted to be a clown in a rodeo, she would have told me to be the best clown any rodeo has ever had with no judgement. The pandemic has made me more reflective and I put my words to actions late last year when I took another leap in my professional life. I took a shot at something I'd never done before and so far so good. In fact, it's been excellent. Mom was right; don't worry about what others think.

Let's Stop Comparing 

One of the most overused cliches is that no one will wish they had spent more time at the office as they take their last breath. How do we know that? And if we replaced the phrase "at the office" with "going for it", that's a more powerful statement. As Mr. Laurie says, why wait until we're ready to do anything because we'll never be ready. The world has forever changed and normal left the building in March 2020. So let's take the leap.

If we're waiting for a sign, it's right in front of us. Change your career, get out of that crappy relationship, buy the damn car, if you like the hat then wear the hat, eat the cookie, stop overthinking everything. If you want that relationship, go for it. If you want to try that new job, don't wait for an invitation. Put the mobile device or laptop down and do it before you are ready. If we're never ready, then why are we waiting?

That's what makes life so much more interesting.

Sound Advice from Leaders

A while back I asked some well respected people in my life to give their best leadership advice. I was looking at the list again this week and thought I'd share it again and add in insights from some more household names.

Maureen Turner Rasmussen Listen.
Richard Branson Do something bold.
Elizabeth Warren Try the Unexpected
Vivian Vasquez Definitely listen.
Maria Shriver Have the courage go beyond shoulda could woulda.
Maryse Senecal Lead by example, always.
Kevin Hamil No one has all the answers so don't think you need to
or worse think you already do.
Joel Peterson Don’t do anything that matters without first setting a goal.
Charrise McCrorey Be you.
Chris Young If you want to be a leader, make sure you're worth following.
Arianna Huffington Find your place of wisdom and peace and strength.
Andrew Hedges Be transparent.
Lydia Robertson Actually care.
Steve Gamlin Live as an GOOD example.
Catherine Jones First learn how to follow.
Joel Scott Good leaders are good listeners and don't ask someone to do something
you never would or won't. Lead by example.
Sheryl Sandberg Follow your dream. Lean In.
Glen Bryant Be fair. Be consistent. Be credible.
Barbara Nixon Listen.
Jeff Immelt The world awaits your leadership.
Kathy Hahn Become the example.
Helen Smith Be present. Learn where to help and when to get out of the way.
Jeff Schueler Engage everyone in the outcome.
Carol Roy Respect everyone for where they're at in life/career and always support
where they want to go. Be honest, at all costs.
Wendy White-Katsipodas Be honest.
Brendan Jones Be dishonest and you are a fool if you don't know they know.
Randi Zuckerberg Be careful what you get good at.
Scott Armstrong Listen.
Sarah Montague Listen and let other people lead.
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | Leadership and Culture strategist, writer, speaker, executive coach engaging leaders, collaborative teams, and strong business results.

istock

Aligning Goals with Actions

Do you keep an active to-do list handy at all times? These are items you need to do today, this week, this quarter, this fiscal, and beyond. It may feature work stuff, family items, financial objectives, longer term entries. If it’s not an actual list on your desktop, it’s somewhere even if it resides in your mind. Some say writing them down makes them real but without our action, the location is irrelevant.

This is the list of things we want, wish for, and need to accomplish but why don’t we just get to them and cross them off the list? Well, sometimes it’s time. Other times, it’s money. And often we're in our way. Guilty as charged! In order to be great leaders, we need to find people who believe in what we believe. But we need to define it first through action and determination. If we're not committed to our list, it will be tough to find others who will align with us.

Let's Get Stuff Done

So have a look at your list and I’ll do the same. Let’s pick those things we want to get accomplished and set an action plan for each. Without steps, we may as well buy more lottery tickets. Scientists say the human mind is capable of ten times more than what we know so if we are really honest with ourselves, we’ll be much more careful to put items on the list we want and will get done.

Leadership is about action and helping people grow. So if you’re not sure if your list reflects your goals, reassess. Then do the same with your team, your division, and your company. We are all guilty of far too much talk when action is required. Far too often a team or company is operating with competing priorities.

Let’s get to work!
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | Leadership and Culture Strategist, Writer, Speaker, Executive Coach helping leaders create dynamic culture and improved results.

sauder

What's Your Best Leadership Advice?

That is a question I posted as a recent Facebook status update. Leadership isn’t easy and it takes skill, patience, time and experience.

Here are the insightful responses

Elizabeth Grattan Be sure there are people actually following you. ;)

Maureen Turner Rasmussen Listen.

Vivian Vasquez Definitely listen.

Maryse Senecal Lead by example, always.

Kevin Hamil No one has all the answers to don't think you need to
or worse think you already do.

Charrise McCrorey Be you.

Chris Young If you want to be a leader, make sure you're worth following.

Michelle Fortin Stay curious and access your compassion when you are feeling frustration. Oh yes, and read "Power and Love" by Adam Kahane :)

Andrew Hedges Be transparent.

Lydia Robertson Actually care.

Steve Gamlin Live as an GOOD example.

Catherine Jones First learn how to follow.

Joel Scott Good leaders are good listeners and don't ask someone to do something
you never would or won't. Lead by example.

Glen Bryant Be fair. Be consistent. Be credible.

Barbara Nixon Listen.

Kathy Hahn Become the example.

Chris Kennedy Integrity must be the #1 core value demonstrated win all actions and decisions – especially during crisis and when having to deliver bad news.

Helen Smith Be present. Learn where to help and when to get out of the way.

Jeff Schueler Engage everyone in the outcome.

Carol Roy Respect everyone for where they're at in life/career and always support
where they want to go. Be honest, at all costs.

Wendy White-Katsipodas Be honest. Something that used to be a man's word for the people he leads.

Brendan Jones Be dishonest and you are a fool if you don't know they know.

Scott Armstrong Listen.

Sarah Montague Listen and let other people lead.

Great advice from some strong leaders.
Clearly one word keeps coming up – listen!


image: forbes
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A Month of Ideas

Every day on Twitter, I post a saying, quote or thought. It may be something I heard, something that happened or something that gives me pause. Sometimes they’re funny, sometimes they're timely, sometimes they’re meant to make us think.

Here’s the list from February 2012

• Don't replace fear of inaction with fear of success
• Groundhogs aside, what will you accomplish in the next six weeks?
• What obstacle will you remove today?
• Learn from a child
• None of us does this alone
• Curiosity can be your biggest advantage
• Why not?
• Make it about them
• Replace distractions with actions
• All we have is right now. What are we gonna do about it?
• Regret solves nothing
• They don't want a boss
• How will you help someone today?
• The starting point of all achievement is desire. Napolean Hill
• Anytime after now
• Once you decide you will do it, you will figure out how you will do it.
• White space is allowed
• If you give up, how will you know?
• Turn no into how
• Stay curious
• What will you create today?
• Every moment you focus on a weakness is a moment you allow a strength to weaken
• Don't let yesterday take up too much of today. Will Rogers
• If you're looking for the answer, look inside you
• After all is said and done, much more will be said than done. Aesop
• Time to get to all those things we put off yesterday to do tomorrow
• We don't always know and that's okay
• Accept responsibility with grace and move forward

Got any ideas?

Kneale Mann

Image credit: linda huber

Theories and Memes

There are more scientists alive right now than have been alive in any other time in history combined. They are working on cures for diseases, concepts that will defy our own capacity and ideas to revolutionize industry. They are writing opinion papers and research pieces that are challenging conventional wisdom and they are reversing past beliefs with regularity.

There are more writers alive today than in the collective history of humankind. They are writing books, compiling and dissecting historical data, relating daily events, adding to our collective education and publishing digital content faster than the two billion online users can consume it.

We all contribute to the conversation with our biased view.

My grade ten history teacher once proclaimed there is no such thing as an unbiased opinion and that has stuck with me ever since. The battles continue between science and religion, news agencies and the blogosphere, pro life vs. pro choice, conservative against democrat, my opinion or yours.

Our differences become escalated when we begin to read what others are preaching and feel compelled to discard our own beliefs.

What about your career or your organization?

You rely on suppliers and clients and fellow stakeholders to build something together. Each has an opinion yet somehow you are expected to piece together your memes with their theories and come up with solutions to increase the bottom line.

No two people are alike yet we attempt to arrange relationships within the business sphere and remain surprised when there is friction or conflict.

Status quo is often not practical.

Seth Godin wrote yesterday about the common practice of adopting the mantra - that's not the way we do things around here. That is perhaps the single most important phrase to immediately eradicate from our vernacular. The way you've done it is not enough of a compelling reason to keep doing it that way.

And when it gets to the online, digital, marketing, public relations, social media or advertising silos, the best place to start may be with a clean slate. After all, the brightest minds once thought the world was flat.

How do we manage memes and theories in a team environment and continue to build business?

knealemann | email


image credit: seekingalpha