Tag: postaday2011

Same change

Season 1 Disc 1. By the time you read this (if I’m that lucky!) I will have had my breakfast with the IAP2 group. The topic is authentic leadership and I know that most of the people who are coming along have had to deal with a lot of change over the last year or so. I sometimes use a photograph of a major motorway under construction and for a bit of fun, get the people present to see if they can identify it. Then later, I show a photograph of another motorway under construction. It’s odd, because it looks familiar but not quite right. Actually it’s the same motorway, first construction 45 years ago and then the reconstruction, right now.

my-pohutukawa-becoming-variegated-or-maybe-becoming-not-variegated.jpg
My Pohutukawa going through change – either becoming variegated or not variegated. Time will tell.

I’m revisiting the first few episodes of Seinfeld in preparation for the presentation in the morning (good thing they won’t read this first!). The most successful television series of all time and watching the first disc after quite a few years it certainly appears to be the show about nothing. Or is it?  They look a little younger, the set is dated, the humour is slightly more obvious. There’s constant change to be dealt with from an endless pit of shallow human interaction you might think, somewhat cynically. They are stories though.

I’ve a feeling that in the morning we’ll have some stories about change – some that hurt, some that’s exciting and some grudgingly accepted. We can learn a lot from the change that we’ve had in the past. That’s not exactly new of course although we can easily overlook past experiences in dealing with the current change.

So how to tap into the change learnings from the past that might be buried? Think about where you go for your authenticity stories? What’s your Season 1 Disc 1? The more you practice your authentic stories with your teams, the more change you will uncover further and further back, that  is the same as what you’ve got going on now.

We’ll be there in the morning. Happening right now if you’re reading this first thing.

Stephen

Gritty Leadership

You need a Western every year or two. Clever girl’s father is killed and she gets a Federal Marshall and a Texas Ranger on the case. There’s some real Coen Brother’s scenes on the way through – True Grit is aptly named.

It’s been quite intense work-wise the last couple of weeks and at times I’ve had to dig in. All the appointments still need to be met, clients seen, programmes planned and delivered and then get to the movies too!  I can’t have a week without at least one movie and some running. Luckily I don’t have to camp out in the snow in my long coat, leather hat and shotgun. Maybe it’s not really that tough.

At the beginning of March I blogged that it felt like time for a holiday for some people already and I’m not sure that it’s got any quieter, in fact quite the opposite. My sister mentioned on Facebook today that when she picked up her car from the mechanic today, she discovered that the attractive woman in the photograph was the mechanic’s late partner, killed in the earthquake. That’s true grit.

Most of us get on with our lives whatever the circumstance – even in Tokyo you hear that life is kind of normal – however, it’s not time to forget those still in need. I was listening to an interview on National Radio this morning with social psychologist Barbara Fredrickson on the science of happiness. Her research has revealed that experiencing positive emotions in a 3-to-1 ratio with the negative will lead you to a tipping point of resilience that will sustain you through the tough times.

What I liked about this research is that it talks not just about attitudes but also attention – where your attention is directed is led by your emotions. I don’t pretend to feel the grit required of the mechanic. Or those in northern Japan. With pain and suffering so close to the surface. If you’re leading in gritty times this stuff might put it in perspective.

Getting through the gritty times requires our positive emotions – 3 to 1 – to direct our attention to those matters that will keep us resilient and strong. So whatever it is for you, movies, running, swimming, meditation, music, reading or just chilling with friends, don’t overlook it when the times get gritty. In fact pump it up.

Maybe lose the leather hat though.

Stephen

Friday leadership

As I write I have this warm feeling of a big week, quite a lot achieved and lots of positive signs that we’re moving in the right direction. Friday is a good day for wearing jeans (along with Monday, Tuesday, Wed…I digress!), to get that moving fast but relaxed feeling. Does that make sense?  Tim ordered a new game which was delivered to work here and he’s at home waiting for it. It’s a bit rainy, so a good night for a game I reckon. Word has come in via a text that the run tomorrow starts at 6.30am. Ouch. So whether I make it or not will in part depend on whether I can’t resist a visit to Tanuki’s Cave for Japanese, and suffer the consequences of having to have a lonely long run later.

Either way, it’s still Friday and the week’s work is done – in fact the cleaners are here so I should be getting the hell outa here real soon. Darren Hughes resigned as an MP a few hours ago due to sex-crime allegations after a night in town. I know he’s young and I probably sound like an old man: don’t these MPs get it? Going on a drinking session with students is hardly going to be positive. You don’t have to be boring but in leadership roles, you’re in a goldfish bowl, everyone is watching and telling less – except in this case, someone told the cops and now it’s ugly. Ouch. Maybe that 6.30am start won’t really hurt me, compared to this fiasco for Darren Hughes.

If you see a blurry army truck pointing at you maybe it's time to head home!

If you find me on a Friday night, I hope you find me much the same as you would while I’m running your workshop. Though I’ll try not to facilitate your gathering, promise!

I hope you don’t get a surprise. That’s about being authentic.

Friday leadership can really stuff you up if it’s all made up (or you drink too much I guess – then it’s all made up anyway).

Have a great weekend. My carpets are cleaned and the office is looking sparkling for Monday.

Stephen

Desert leadership or deserted leadership?

I read yesterday that the US spends $3.5 million a day on defence spending. For Egypt. That seemed like an unusual thing to do and an unusually high amount. I guess you need a lot of money to buy defence gear. For another country a long way away.  Libya is being bombed now because the Libyan government has attacked an uprising, pitched as “killing its own people”. It’s probably true. It was also true in Afghanistan quite some years ago and it turned out the uprising we in the west were supporting was the Taliban. That all worked out pretty well.

On the other side of the world China is helping Japan through it’s earthquake-driven disaster. Yes, other countries are too, but China and Japan haven’t exactly seen eye to eye. China has a history a repressing its own citizens and the state legally kills more people than the rest of the world.

Is the world headed for another war in the desert?  I don’t see any UN Resolutions proposed to force China to stop killing people for fraud and whatever else they execute for. When the US can’t afford to buy its friends like Egypt, what then? I guess China will. Or will they? Maybe they do in Africa right now. If you’ve experienced Chinese culture, you’ll probably know that despite what I just said, revenge and bullying are less common values than you see in the southern states of the US, say.

We have complex and seemingly intelligent international bodies including the UN in place where insights and learnings could be applied for the likes of Libya. I can see that if a government is killing its citizens then urgent action might need to be taken. But there doesn’t seem to be any urgency in other parts of the world. Like Zimbabwe to use another example. Cause and effect thinking, oil, and our cry for democracy have spurred the West into action.

It seems to be part of a western-encouraged uprising to bring democracy to the middle-east. Is the UN sanctioned bombing of Libya a sign of international leadership? Or is it a few countries beating up another bully so democracy can rise?  And if it does will they be free? I’m pretty sure Egypt hasn’t been free. The people from their president and the president from America. Not at $3.5 million a day.

These guys don't need Libya's oil

I’m a big fan of democracy. I’m an even bigger fan of freedom. I used to think that one led to the other. I’m not so sure now.  Do you feel less free in China than you do in America?

Do you feel that the UN has shown leadership in supporting the uprising in Libya?  Is this leadership through a consensus? What of the countries like Russia, China and Germany that abstained from voting? Is there an uncomfortable feeling in that? Are they closing their eyes and not wanting to support, or not deal with, a terrorist? Or does it have a feeling of “well you do what you have to do, but we’re not sure”.

That doesn’t feel like leadership, democracy or freedom to me. The most powerful leaders in the world. And they use simple cause and effect, voting leadership, and looking away to deal with one of the most significant international issues in many years. We should expect more from them all, those political leaders.

As my friend Rex says, if we spent that money on electric car technology, it probably wouldn’t matter so much. I’m starting to think he’s right.

I don’t have the answer, but somewhere in the thinking that put China in Japan to help its neighbour without any ado, there might be a better way.

Stephen