Advantage: Age

Full disclosure: Despite what my brain thinks, until I catch my reflection in the mirror, I’m not 28 anymore. We live in a culture that celebrates youth and often suggests aging means becoming less relevant. Maybe we have been looking at it the wrong way. The older we get, the more we have seen. 

We have watched trends come and go, experienced success and failure, and learned lessons that cannot be taught in a classroom or replaced by technology. Those experiences create judgment and perspective. In business, there is often an obsession with what is new. 

Age Pivoting

Technology and innovation matter, but the strongest organizations combine ideas with the wisdom that comes from understanding people and challenges. Artificial intelligence is a perfect example. AI can improve efficiency, but it cannot replace human experience. It does not understand relationships, leadership, or empathy. And I don't know about your experience, but I've discovered it's often wrong. 

Technology provides information, but experience helps determine what matters. I don't think the goal is to stay young forever - it's to stay curious forever. Getting older is inevitable; becoming irrelevant is a choice. Aging is not the end of the story; it is where age becomes one of our greatest advantages. 

Experience matters.

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The Hidden Cost of Layoffs

A couple of months ago, I was having lunch with a buddy and we were talking about a company that had just announced a massive round of layoffs. I don't remember which company, and that's not important to the story; but he said something I'd never thought about before. He then said; "They didn't just lay off thousands of employees; they also let possibly millions of years of experience walk out the door." 

 That stopped me. 

We usually hear about layoffs in numbers. Thousands of jobs. Millions of dollars saved. Restructuring. Efficiencies. Corporate language. AI. Stock prices. Industry blah blah blah. But behind every number is a person with knowledge. 

It's the woman who knows how to calm an angry customer because she's done it for twenty years. The technician who can hear something wrong before anyone else notices. The salesperson who remembers clients and relationships built over decades. And thousands have to tell their family they may not have an income for a while. 

Ones and Zeroes

Experience may not show up on a balance sheet, but it's real. It's valuable. It's important. Of course the company has to evaluate inefficiencies and shifting business realities. Layoffs happen. I've been on both sides. Businesses have to make tough decisions. Markets change. Technology evolves. I get that. But experience matters. 

When people leave; they don't just take a job title with them. They are not head count. They take years of lessons, relationships, company intel, instincts, and wisdom when they walk out the door with that infamous box under their arm. 

  And that's something that is difficult to replace. ____________________________________________________________

What's For Dinner?

We've heard the old saying ‘starve a fever, feed a cold’. As leaders, what would happen if we applied that to our lives by feeding our passions and not giving any table scraps to our fears? Yes, easier said than done but worth a shot.

Some organizations, for all their efforts, become a dysfunctional environment. This is where I can help. Some don't want to be helped and it's best we leave them to their misery. Perhaps there is an underlying issue that needs to be put on a diet.

Often, much of what we may fear isn’t the big scary monster but simply something we haven’t tried or an instance where we need help from others or a bit more experience. We may have fear while others navigate it with ease and can help us. There will be times the roles are reversed but we need to starve our fears together.

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Would You Like Fear with That?

We've heard the old saying ‘starve a fever, feed a cold’. As leaders, what would happen if we applied that to our lives by feeding our passions and not giving any table scraps to our fears? Yes, easier said than done but worth a shot.

Some organizations, for all their efforts, become a dysfunctional environment. This is where I can help. Some don't want to be helped and it's best we leave them to their misery. Perhaps there is an underlying issue that needs to be put on a diet.

Often, much of what we may fear isn’t the big scary monster but simply something we haven’t tried or an instance where we need help from others or a bit more experience. We may have fear while others navigate it with ease and can help us. There will be times the roles are reversed but we need to starve our fears together.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said; "Fear is the enemy."
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Fear Diet

We've heard the old saying ‘starve a fever, feed a cold’. As leaders, what would happen if we applied that to our lives by feeding our passions and not giving any table scraps to our fears? Yes, easier said than done but worth a shot.

Some organizations, for all their efforts, become a dysfunctional environment. This is where I can help. Some don't want to be helped and it's best we leave them to their misery. Perhaps there is an underlying issue that needs to be put on a diet.

Often, much of what we may fear isn’t the big scary monster but simply something we haven’t tried or an instance where we need help from others or a bit more experience. We may have fear while others navigate it with ease and can help us. There will be times the roles are reversed but we need to starve our fears together.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said; "Fear is the enemy."
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Deciding Decisions Decidedly

A choice can require additional data or more time. Members of the team need further deliberation to make an informed call. The customer has to check budget allocations. You're unsure it’s aligned with the overall strategy.

Waiting can be justified but excuses can also be the reason we wait. Some decisions require time, others aren't made because we're in the way.

We look for leadership to be decisive and crisp. It’s about helping people get better, keeping everyone on track, and getting stuff done. But it isn't always smooth in real life. How often have you finally pulled the pin and the relief quickly replaces your fear?

Some inspiration as we deliberate:

The only person you really have control over is yourself.
Deborah Reber

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.
Tony Robbins

When you make the right decision, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks.
Caroline Kennedy

Peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.
Rita Mae Brown

Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.
Brian Tracy

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once we make the decision, we can stop deciding.
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Deciding to Decide

A choice can require additional data or more time. Members of the team need further deliberation to make an informed call. The customer has to check budget allocations. You're unsure it’s aligned with the overall strategy.

Waiting can be justified but excuses can also be the reason we wait. Some decisions require time, others aren't made because we're in the way.

We look for leadership to be decisive and crisp. It’s about helping people get better, keeping everyone on track, and getting stuff done. But it isn't always smooth in real life. How often have you finally pulled the pin and the relief quickly replaces your fear?

Some inspiration as we deliberate;

The only person you really have control over is yourself.
Deborah Reber

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.
Tony Robbins

When you make the right decision, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks.
Caroline Kennedy

Peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.
Rita Mae Brown

Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.
Brian Tracy

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once we make the decision, we can stop deciding.
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Ready, Set, Go...

Have you ever been in a situation where you have to tackle a new task or refine an idea or meet a deadline but been unsure where to begin? That’s obviously rhetorical because we all have but the trick is how we successfully get out of that first key step to move forward.

It’s often been said leadership is about results but those results have to begin with an idea that must be advanced and refined before we can deliver it. But how much think time do we allow in our day to even get any of done? Our biggest hurdle is often us and in our inability to get started.

Here are some ideas to get us moving forward.

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
Henry Ward Beecher

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth;
not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.
Walter Elliott

Now is the operative word. Everything you put in your way is just a method of putting off the hour when you could actually be doing your dream.
Barbara Sher

The beginning is the most important part of the work.
Plato

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today
and make a new ending.
Maria Robinson

The idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it.
Seth Godin

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
Chinese Proverb

The starting point of all achievement is desire.
Napoleon Hill

I haven't failed. I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.
Thomas Edison

Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now.
Mattie Stepanek

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment
before starting to improve the world.
Anne Frank

Let's start!
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Mom's Wisdom

On the night before I left for college, my mom said: "I'm so proud of you. Enjoy this time as you are going out into the world and as much as I'd love to help you never make mistakes, you will make lots of them. I can teach you not to make the same ones I made, but you'll make news ones all on our own."

That talk has carried me through some rough times and mom still helps me with her wisdom. But what is in a mistake? You spent too much on that dinner; you took that relationship too far when you knew it was over; you took that gig you knew you didn't really want; you trusted that person you know was lying to you.

Time's wisdom

The key element to any mistake is time and more importantly time after the event. I'm not referring to those decisions we make when when we know right at that moment we aren't making the right call. This is about that relationship, job, or experience that we endured because we decided with all the evidence we had at the time.

I don't know about you, but I've spent far too much of my life regretting stuff I can't change. Then again, those mistakes can often push us to where we need to go and the doorway was the so-called misstep we made in the past.

Let's live for today not yesterday.
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Scary Monsters

We've heard the old saying; "starve a fever, feed a cold". As leaders, what would happen if we applied that to our lives by feeding our passions and not giving any table scraps to our fears? Yes, easier said than done but worth a shot.

Some organizations, for all their efforts, become a dysfunctional environment. Some don't want to be helped and it's best we leave them to their misery. But perhaps there is an underlying issue that needs to be put on a diet.

Look under the bed

Often, much of what we may fear isn’t the big scary monster but simply something we haven’t tried or an instance where we need help from others or a bit more experience. We may have fear while others navigate it with ease and can help us. There will be times the roles are reversed but we need to starve our fears together.

Recently, I've made some big leaps and some were scary but none guaranteed or easy. But in my gut I knew they had to be made.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said: "Fear is the enemy".
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Where Do I Start?

Have you ever been in a situation where you have to tackle a new task or refine an idea or meet a deadline but been unsure where to begin? That’s obviously rhetorical because we all have but the trick is how we successfully get out of that first key step to move forward.

It’s often been said leadership is about results but those results have to begin with an idea that must be advanced and refined before we can deliver it. But how much think time do we allow in our day to even get any of done? Our biggest hurdle is often us and in our inability to get started.

Here are some ideas to get us moving forward.

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
Henry Ward Beecher

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth;
not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.
Walter Elliott

Now is the operative word. Everything you put in your way is just a method of putting off the hour when you could actually be doing your dream.
Barbara Sher

The beginning is the most important part of the work.
Plato

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today
and make a new ending.
Maria Robinson

The idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it.
Seth Godin

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
Chinese Proverb

The starting point of all achievement is desire.
Napoleon Hill

I haven't failed. I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.
Thomas Edison

Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now.
Mattie Stepanek

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment
before starting to improve the world.
Anne Frank

Let's start!
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We're All Afraid

We've heard the old saying ‘starve a fever, feed a cold’. As leaders, what would happen if we applied that to our lives by feeding our passions and not giving any table scraps to our fears? Yes, easier said than done but worth a shot.

Some organizations, for all their efforts, become a dysfunctional environment. This is where I can help. Some don't want to be helped and it's best we leave them to their misery. But perhaps there is an underlying issue that needs to be put on a diet.

Often, much of what we may fear isn’t the big scary monster but simply something we haven’t tried or an instance where we need help from others or a bit more experience. We may have fear while others navigate it with ease and can help us. There will be times the roles are reversed but we need to starve our fears together.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, fear is the enemy.
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Decisions

A choice can require additional data or more time. Members of the team need further deliberation to make an informed call. The customer has to check budget allocations. You're unsure it’s aligned with the overall strategy.

Waiting can be justified but excuses can also be the reason we wait. Some decisions require time, others aren't made because we're in the way.

We look for leadership to be decisive and crisp. It’s about helping people get better, keeping everyone on track, and getting stuff done. But it isn't always smooth in real life. How often have you finally pulled the pin and the relief quickly replaces your fear?

Some inspiration as we deliberate

The only person you really have control over is yourself.
Deborah Reber

It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.
Tony Robbins

When you make the right decision, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks.
Caroline Kennedy

Peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.
Rita Mae Brown

Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.
Brian Tracy

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Listen to your gut, make the decision, then stop deciding.
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Doing the Right Things

We are all judged and measured by our performance. But before calculating revenue, memberships, or constituents, the key to any organizational growth begins with the relationships within the organization. Great culture brings results. Ensuring people enjoy coming to work every day so they can bring their best must be a top priority.

With that in mind, some words of wisdom.

It's hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.
Adlai E. Stevenson II

Power isn't control at all. Power is strength, and giving that strength to others.
Beth Revis

Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal;
Avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader.
Lao Tzu

You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.
Nancy D. Solomon

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter Drucker

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
Mother Teresa

If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out.
Steve Jobs

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
William Arthur Ward
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Passion and People

If you are in business, managing a department, or leading an organization, you are judged and measured by your financial performance. The bottom line is one of the essential pieces of the matrix. Some say if you focus on revenue, the rest will take care of itself. If it was true, every company would enjoy infinite growth year after year.

The key to any organizational growth begins with the relationships within your company. Great culture brings profit. Ensuring your people are well trained and enjoy coming to work every day must be your top priority.

With that in mind, some words of wisdom.

It's hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.
Adlai E. Stevenson II

Power isn't control at all. Power is strength, and giving that strength to others.
Beth Revis

Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal;
Avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader.
Lao Tzu

You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.
Nancy D. Solomon

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
Peter Drucker

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
Mother Teresa

If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out.
Steve Jobs

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
William Arthur Ward
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Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit

Madiba

The father of democracy in South Africa and beloved man around the world died yesterday with the same dignity that gave him the strength to endure 27 years of imprisonment then emerge as the first black president of his country, the key figure in the ending of apartheid, and the recipient of the Noble Peace Prize.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela's poise, grace, and leadership inspired billions and will do so for generations to come.

PBS tells Mandela's story.


__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela | PBS

Where Do You Start?

Have you ever been in a situation where you have to tackle a new task or refine an idea or meet a deadline but been unsure where to begin? That’s obviously rhetorical because we all have but the trick is how we successfully get out of that first key step to move forward.

It’s often been said leadership is about results but those results have to begin with an idea that must be advanced and refined before we can deliver it. But how much think time do we allow in our day to even get any of done? Our biggest hurdle is often us and in our inability to get started.

Here are some ideas to get us moving forward.

The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
Henry Ward Beecher

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth;
not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha

Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.
Walter Elliott

Now is the operative word. Everything you put in your way is just a method of putting off the hour when you could actually be doing your dream.
Barbara Sher

Distant fields always look greener, but opportunity lies right where you are.
Robert Collier

The beginning is the most important part of the work.
Plato

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today
and make a new ending.
Maria Robinson

The idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it.
Seth Godin

The beginning is always today.
Mary Wollstonecraft

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden

Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.
Dr. Joyce Brothers

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
Chinese Proverb

The starting point of all achievement is desire.
Napoleon Hill

I haven't failed. I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.
Thomas Edison

Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now.
Mattie Stepanek

Never consider the possibility of failure; as long as you persist, you will be successful.
Brian Tracy

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment
before starting to improve the world.
Anne Frank

Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never
have a beginning.
John Henry Newman

Let’s get started!
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

backofthepacker

Starving the Fearful Leader

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
Steve Jobs

We've heard the old saying ‘starve a fever, feed a cold’. As leaders, what would happen if we applied that to our lives by feeding our passions and not giving any table scraps to our fears? Yes, easier said than done but worth a shot.

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.
Bertrand Russell

Some organizations, for all their efforts, become a dysfunctional environment. This is where I can help. Some don't want to be helped and it's best we leave them to their misery. But perhaps there is an underlying issue that needs to be put on a diet.

You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith. Mary Manin Morrissey

Open your calendar and go to a random date last year. Check out all that you had on that day. Now think about what made you stressed and what is now irrelevant. Some items may no longer be concerns and some you conquered. It may now look like a nothing day but at the time there was something that was stressing you that you were trying to get past. Now much or all of your fear may have dissipated.

Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.
James Stephens

Often, much of what we may fear isn’t the big scary monster but simply something we haven’t tried or an instance where we need help from others or a bit more experience. We may have fear while others navigate it with ease and can help us. There will be times the roles are reversed but we need to starve our fears together.

The enemy is fear. Mahatma Gandhi
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

yogaheals

Thirty-One and Counting

It’s a daily thing that started a couple of years ago. Each morning on Twitter, I post a thought or quip, idea or quote, comment or idea that strikes me.

Here are some of the highlights from August 2013

Heavy givers are light complainers. You were born to lead in your own way.

The best time to start is that place between tomorrow and yesterday.

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.
Corrie Ten Boom

You have all you need to succeed if you look hard enough.
If it doesn't help you grow, get rid of it. 

The past has passed. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Neale Walsh

The choice is yours. You will never get it perfect and that's okay.
Self praise is no recommendation.

There are people in your life right now ready to help you if you ask.

Most of our assumptions have outlived their uselessness.
Marshall McLuhan

Don't give naysayers their audience they crave.
That idea you keep putting on hold is ready to ship.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Life is an experience in progress.

If you raise the bar, your top performers will soar.
If you lower the bar, they will leave.

If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done. Thomas Jefferson

Pick five people you connect with online. Give them each a call.

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Know-it-alls usually know a lot less than all. Success is a decision. If you're sorry you didn't take a chance in the past, don't repeat history today.

What obstacle will you remove today? Learn from a child.

You need to be the one who will create the change you need.
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

timeninja

Making Decisions

A choice can require additional data or more time. Members of the team need further deliberation to make an informed call. The customer has to check budget allocations. You're unsure it’s aligned with the overall strategy.

Waiting can be justified but excuses can also be the reason we wait. Some decisions require time, others aren't made because we're in the way.

Lead or Follow?

We look for leadership to be decisive and crisp. It’s about helping people get better, keeping everyone on track, and getting stuff done. But it isn't always smooth in real life.

Some say the most successful people make quick decisions, refine, and move forward in the time it takes most people to move at all.

Here’s some inspiration as we deliberate

The only person you really have control over is yourself.
Deborah Reber

The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.
Tony Robbins

When you make the right decision, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks.
Caroline Kennedy

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
Peart, Lee, Lifeson

The best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing,
and the worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt

Peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.
Rita Mae Brown

Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.
Brian Tracy

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let's decide!
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Kneale Mann | Leadership and Culture strategist, writer, speaker, executive coach engaging leaders, collaborative teams, and strong business results.

venturebeat