February 16, 2014
Some Mighty Big Shoes To Fill
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We walk in the footsteps of the giants who came before us.
We walk among colleagues who are superior to us.
We walk before future generations who will certainly humble us.
We walk in the sight of G-d, our creator and master, who bestows all divine benevolence to us.
_________________
Now those are some mighty big shoes! ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
October 8, 2012
Hospital Wake Up Call
So recently, I was in the hospital for something.
G-d, I hate hospitals, but this time something was going on and I knew I had to go.
I admire all the doctors, nurses, and other health professionals that work there helping people--it is definitely not an easy job.
I watched the other patients--on gurneys, in wheelchairs, laying in the hospital beds, and getting various procedures--and it is eye-opening.
Many people, who are otherwise strong and able-bodied, are reduced to needing help with feeding, going to the bathroom, getting around, and some even just turning over in bed.
I watched the people out of their everyday clothes and forced into hospital gowns--one of the most awful things in terms of our human modesty and dignity.
Then there is the need to have to ask for everything and being reduced to poking, prodding, and vitals checkups at all hours of the day and night.
In one case, they even woke someone up to give them a sleeping pill, true.
Also, when you have to share a room with a stranger with their own various ailments, the quiet time and the privacy to deal with your issues is even less.
Hospital are not a great place for getting rest or for feeling confidant in your abilities--let's face it, you're confronting very helplessness itself.
In these circumstances, I found myself getting down about the circumstances and my wife, G-d bless her, said something really smart to me.
She said, "You are better than this," and I looked up at her feeling physically lousey and emotionally spent, and she repeated, "You are better than this."
I stopped to not just hear what she was saying, but to really listen--and it was amazing.
She was right, there was nothing to feel bad about. I needed to have faith and believe that all was for the best, and that I was stronger than this test.
A short time has passed, but I will never forget my wife's words to me--she gave me a great gift and I will always be grateful what she did for me.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Hospital Wake Up Call
September 22, 2012
Leadership Lessons In a Pie
In the exercise, there are 8 primary skills written on the floor in a pie shape taped off into slices.
People are instructed to step into the slice where they think they are the strongest.
For example, some stepped into slices labeled visionaries, others into change catalysts, team building, or communication, and so on.
Then the group of people from each slice takes a turn and explains to everyone else how to become good at that particular skill, where they are the experts.
Then the exercise is reversed and the participants are asked to find and step into the slice that is the most challenging for them.
In this second part, the group of people in each slice then explain to the rest of the participants what makes that skill in their slice so challenging for them.
This is a thought-provoking and helpful leadership exercise that gives people an opportunity to examine and discuss their strengths and weakness and learn from each other.
While I wouldn't say that they all slices had the same number of people--they didn't, some had more and some less--each slice did some people to represent that skill.
Some thoughts on this pie exercise:
- By having to choose only one key strength (i.e. only one slice to stand in), it is humbling to realize all the other skills where you aren't as strong, but seeing other people in spread across those slices too--let's you know that it is possible.
- Also, by having to identify your most challenging leadership skill, the one where you need to focus the most attention on, it is comforting to see other people in the same slice--you are not alone.
- Seeing and hearing about the multiple leadership areas for people--both strengths and weaknesses--points to the importance of diversity of people and skills in the workplace--everyone can do something, but no one can do everything perfect.
- It is healthy to take a self-accounting of your strengths and weaknesses and learn where you can help others and where you can learn from others--thus, teamwork in leadership is just as critical as what is expected in the proverbial "rank and file."
- Leadership skills are generally not something that you are born mastering--although some are labeled "born leaders" (or maybe "born with a silver spoon in their mouth" in more appropriate)--the vast majority of people learn and grow their leadership skills over a lifetime--and that is a good thing, so stick with it! ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Leadership Lessons In a Pie
September 14, 2012
Following The Guy In Front Of You Over A Cliff
After seeing holocaust survivors with numbers tattooed on their arms from the horrors of the concentation camps, Chaleff asks "How does this happen? How do people follow murderous leaders?"
In response Chaleff comes up with the five dimensions to follow courageously:
- Courage to assume responsibility--don't expect your leader to provide for you, but you act for the common purpose that you both serve. (as John F. Kennedy said: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.")
- Courage to serve--recognize the tough job of leadership and help to unburden and support the leader so he/she can be successful.
- Courage to participate in transformation--become full participants in the change and transformation process; ask what you can do differently to improve.
- Courage to constructively question and challenge--when policies and behaviors are counterproductive, step up and voice discomfort and objection.
- Courage to take moral action--in rare, but needed circumstances, you must be willing to dissent, leave, or refuse to obey a direct order when it is unethical or illegal.
I greatly appreciate Charleff speaking out and teaching others to do so and calling for all to "act as principled persons with integrity."
Charleff see leaders and followers less in the traditional hierarchical model and more as partners in achieving a common purpose--and this flattening of the hierarchy enables followers to question, challenge, and dissent when the boundaries of integrity are violated.
While I too believe we must serve courageously and not just follow blindly--as one of my teachers used to say, "if the car in front of you drives off a cliff, are you just going to follow him?"--I am not sure that Chaleff fully addresses the challenges and complexity in what it means to "step out."
While we may like to envision a flat organization structure, the reality in most organizations is that there is a clear hierarchy and as they say, "the nail that stands out, gets hammered down"--it is not easy to challenge authority, even though it can, at rare times, be necessary.
Finally, while Charleff focuses primarily on speaking up when there is a moral issue at hand, I think it is important to also be forthright in everyday issues and challenges that we confront.
Being good at what we do means that you don't just participate in leaderthink or groupthink, but you think on your own and share those thoughts earnestly.
However, once the decision is made--as long as and only when it is moral--then you must serve and support that decision and help make it as successful as possible.
Leaders and followers are a team and that means having the courage to fully participate and having the humility to respect chain of command and serve a noble mission, appropriately.
Following The Guy In Front Of You Over A Cliff
April 2, 2012
Mind Readers and The Psychology of Excess
There are so many good, hardworking people at GSA making progress for the Government in terms of property management, contract management, fleet management, and more, that it was a huge shock to many today, when GSA leadership including the Administrator, were ousted for what White House Chief of Staff called "excessive spending, questionable dealings with contractors, and disregard for taxpayer dollars."
This at a time when the nation is struggling to reduce the national deficit now at $15.6 trillion and avoid another debt ratings cut from the three credit report agencies that would potentially drive interest up and cause even more damage to the nation's economy.
Of course, the GSA is not the only example, just last year, we had the unfortunate "muffin mini-scandal" as reported by Bloomberg BusinessWeek (29 September 2011), where the Government was alleged to have paid $16.80 apiece for muffins.
What causes this psychology of excess where taxpayers end up footing the bill for extravagant items and events?
1) Hubris--Are there people who feel they are so high and mighty, they just have all the trimmings of office coming to them and theirs?
2) Neglect--Do some executives rise too far and fast, and maybe things get out of control?
3) Misguided--Is it possible that some may actually really think that hiring a mind reader on the taxpayer dime is a good idea?
4) Accident--At times, oversights, mistakes, and accidents happen, and while we may prefer they didn't, they are a learning opportunities.
5) All of the above--Perhaps it is some combination of all the prior four?
It reminds me of something my father taught me that "G-d does not let any flower grow into the sky."
This means that no matter how good we are or how far we go in our careers and in life, we remain mortal and infirm, and subject to human imperfections.
That's why it's never a good idea to tout your own infallibility. Just Last Thursday, the GSA Administrator, as reported by Government Executive Magazine, told a conference "Why us? Because we're the expert shoppers. We're the folks you want on your team when budgets are tight, you're making purchases, and there's no room for error..."
Obviously, I assume there was no intent to brag, but we all say things like this at one time or another, and it's good to reflect and stop ourselves from going too far.
This is not about the GSA or any other agency or organization in particular, but rather a lesson in humility for all of us.
This unfortunate incident should not obscure the good work, done every day, at all levels, by every Federal agency.
(Source Photo: here)
Mind Readers and The Psychology of Excess
February 23, 2012
Boy Loses Arm, Girl Loses Memory
The movie is beautifully filmed and the events recreated with tremendous clarity--I could feel as if I was there and I literally cried for the these poor people.
In the film a women is saved in the quake by her husband who dies trying to go back into the falling building to save their children--twins, a boy and a girl, age 6--who themselves end up buried under the rubble.
The mother begs others to save (both) her children, but a rescuer tells her that when they try to move the concrete slab that's pinning them down--this way or that--it will mean that one of her children will die.
She cannot choose, but at the risk of losing both children, she finally says "save my son."
The girl hears her beneath the rubble--and tears are running down her face with the emotional devastation of not being chosen by her own mother for life.
The mother carries what she believes is her daughter's dead body and lays it next to the husband--she weeps and begs forgiveness.
The story continues with rebirth and renewal...the boy survives but loses his arm in the quake and the girl also lives but loses her memory (first from post-traumatic stress--she can't even talk--then apparently from the anger at her mother's choice).
Each child faces a daunting future with their disabilities--the boy physically and the girl emotionally, but each fights to overcome and ultimately succeed.
The boy who is feared can never do anything with only one arm--ends up with a successful business, family, home, car, and caring for his heart-broken mother.
The girl who is raised by army foster parents struggles to forgive her mother--"it's not that I don't remember, it's that I can't forget"--and after 32 years finally goes back and heals with her.
The mother never remarries--she stays married in her mind to the man who loved her so much and sacrificed his life for hers. And she stays in Tangshan--never moving, waiting somehow for her daughter to return--from the (un)dead--but she is emotionally haunted all the years waiting and morning--"You don't know what losing something means until you've lost it."
The brother and sister finally find each other as part of the Tangshan Rescue Team--they each go back to save others buried in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake that killed almost another 70,000.
Some amazing themes from the movie:
- "You're family is always your family," even despite wrongs that we do to each other, we are challenged to somehow find forgiveness and to love and extend ourselves for those who have given so much to us.
- "Some people are living, others only suffer." After the earthquake, as with any such disaster, the living question why they survived and other didn't. Similarly, we frequently ask ourselves, why some people seem to have it "so good," while others don't. But as we learn, each of us has our own mission and challenges to fulfill.
- Disabilities or disadvantages--physical or emotional--may leave others or ourselves thinking that we couldn't or wouldn't succeed, but over time and with persistence we can overcome a missing arms or a broken heart, if we continue to have faith and do the right things.
I loved this movie--and the progression from the horrific destruction of the earthquake to the restoration and renewal of life over many years of struggle was a lesson in both humility of what we mortals are in the face of a trembling ground beneath us or the sometimes horrible choices we have to make, and the fortitude we must show in overcoming these.
(Source Photo: here)
Boy Loses Arm, Girl Loses Memory
September 25, 2009
The Window and the Mirror and Enterprise Architecture
At the most basic level, Collins says that a “level 5” executive or great leader is a “paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will." “Level 5 leaders channel their ego away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company…their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.”
Furthermore, level 5 great leaders differ from good leaders in terms of “the window and the mirror.”
- Great leaders—“look out the window to attribute success to factors outside themselves, [and] when things go poorly, they look in the mirror and blame themselves.”
- Good (non-great) leaders—“look in the mirror to take credit for success, but out the window to assign blame for disappointing results.”
Interestingly enough, many leaders attributed their company’s success to “good luck” and failures to “bad luck”. Collins writes: “Luck. What an odd factor to talk about. Yet, the good-to-great executives talked a lot about luck in our interviews. This doesn’t sound like Harvard or Yale MBAs talking does it?
Collins comments on this bizarre and repeated reference to luck and states: “We were at first puzzled by this emphasis on good luck. After all, we found no evidence that the good-to-great companies were blessed with more good luck than the comparison companies.”
Where is G-d in the leaders' calculus for business success?
It seems that the same good-to-great leaders that “look out the window to attribute success to factors outside themselves,” also are looking down at superstitious or “Vegas-style” factors of luck, rather than looking out the window and up to the heavens from where, traditionally speaking, divine will emanates.Perhaps, there should be a level 6 leader (after the level 5 great leader) that is “truly great” and this is the leader that not only has personal humility and professional will, but also belief in a power much higher than themselves that supersedes “good luck.”
The Window and the Mirror and Enterprise Architecture
July 23, 2009
Cutting the Budget the Easy Way
Cutting the Budget the Easy Way