Tag: vision

Seeing through the fog

There’s been a bit of fog around the super city recently and getting around has been super slow. On a day trip to Hamilton (I was mocked for referring to the journey as a “road trip” but hell, we got above 40 km/h) it was a beautiful clear day with the fog residing above the Bombays for once!

This morning I was on the 28th floor of a city building with a spectacular view out over the city, the harbour, the port, the tank farm and beyond.  My host perhaps didn’t realise it but is was just the medicine I needed after a fortnight of niggles about stuff that didn’t matter in the long term (as it turned out) – a builder who can’t complete a job, a communications company that simply can’t understand my minor an easily fixable grievance and my monthly favourite – the cashflow!

We often hear about taking a strategic view, rising above the detail and getting a perspective.  Life has felt a bit foggy this week but today has brought some clarity.  The builder has committed for next week, the communications company saw sense and I understood my cashflow.  On Tuesday I encountered someone wearing a Hamil-tron “city of the future” T-shirt. Maybe it is – when the fog clears the future is clear.

And Hamilton is certainly on my side today – thanks to the good folk there, this blog has recorded the highest number of hits ever today (and it’s only 1.00pm!).

What is your fog today?  Could you clear it and take the long view?

Have a great weekend everyone.

Stephen

Lighting a torch

Tim and I went shopping this weekend in preparation for our 6 days camping on the Essentially Men father/son retreat. We bought polyprop tops, camping lights, a new pocket knife (as instructed) for Tim and torches.

My good friend Nigel phoned from Christchurch this afternoon to suggest that one of the most valuable pieces of equipment we could bring was a head lamp: “when it’s dark on camp it’s dark, so you can do whatever you want with a torch strapped to your head”.

This retreat has been a long-time coming and Tim has been very brave in agreeing to go into the unknown with me and a group of other guys.

I’m excited and apprehensive. My hope this week is that Tim sees the way forward from boy to young man. It’ll be big for me too I’m sure.

We’ve got those head lamps ready.

See you in a week.

Stephen

All pumped up to go nowhere

We’re only three hours into the Authentic Leadership Course and I have a moment of reflection. We all know that adrenalin is a killer, so to speak, but console ourselves that it’s useful in getting ourselves moving/presenting/whatever.

I’m not so sure. This course has started and will continue I am sure without the use of that drug. Already, deep connections are being made and we are speaking of the trust that is already building. Building because we are all being ourselves. There’s no adrenalin-pumping stunts that seem to fill much of our business life – presumably to impress others and “get the point across”.

Get the point across. That’s it – feeding out stuff to unsuspecting and eventually unreceptive audiences – whether that be a class, a team or a board.

Three hours can get you to Sydney. It can also get you connecting in places you never thought possible with people you’ve never met before.

Imagine what you could do at work if you relaxed, trusted and lost the mask.  Now there’s a leader’s vision.


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Are you faking it?

We want something that’s going to inspire – you know something on leadership that’s going to hit them, jolt them and make them sit up.  They don’t need any of this soft self or team building stuff – they can get that anywhere.  This is big and gutsy get-up big leader talk we’re after.

And you have been told! Or I should say I had been – so went the briefing for some work with a potential client.  It makes you think, well it did me.

So do people like me and the team at the Centre for Innovative Leadership need to refocus sometimes. Do we need maybe to tell more about being a big leader – some good theories on leader types – charismatic, command etc.  After all why pay for someone to have you learn about yourself.  As my client said – they can get that anywhere. 

I have been doing some work recently with the fantastic Mr Fox (sorry that just slipped out – that was a funny movie and strange how word associations can derail me – been on a train lately?), no I mean Vikram Murthy on leadership and problem solving. I give him credit for helping me to clarify the above situation for me. Thanks Vikram.

For some people emotional intelligence is one of those yeah yeah things, but actually it’s not. It’s real and provable. Just like the universe (I’ll look at this later and wonder, but I’ve only had juice tonight honestly).

Back to leadership:  that might be about team, about relationships, about change, about vision, about problem solving, about using energy and emotion and you can think of a few more things too I’m sure.  But there’s a good start, or is it?

It’s the end.  The end result of something much more complex from a journey of discovery – self awareness, then self management, then social awareness and then you’ll get to leadership.

So you’re the leader now: Are you starting with self?  Of do you reckon you can cut all that stuff out and start with the leader duties? Watch out! Especially if you’re the big and gutsy out-there leader. Is that real? Or are you faking it?  You might not realise it but the team will notice it.

Really Mr Fox, what is that suit all about – you’re a fox for god’s sake! Get real! The dogs can tell.


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