The Fire Within

We all know that some times leaders don't have all of the answers. Each of us have been in situations where you basically feel like you are making it up as you go. You might be in one of those situations now, especially with how crazy and constantly changing this year is. With the health in our country the way it is we are probably dealing with a lot more work absences this year. Maybe you are a manager or a small business owner and you have an employee who you don't know when, or even if they are going to return. You have customers and co-workers that are relying on that person. You can't be certain of how things are going to transpire, but you have to make an effort to provide some clarity. If you don't that is when the rumors get started and frustrations come out as people talk and try to make sense of it. When people have no information from leaders it creates a vacuum which is quickly filled with whatever people can conjure up. I think one of the main qualities of ...

I play a variety of roles in my job. Roles like project manager, business analyst, solutions architect, application administrator, integration analyst and tester. Every day you can find me in at least one, but likely all of those roles to some capacity. Some of those roles I'm better at than others. Each of those roles I could improve on, there is always room to get better.  One thing I've learned over time is to accept the fact that in any one of those roles there are thousands of people that are better at it than me. There are people who also have to play each of those roles in their job and they are better overall than I am. Somewhere in this world there is someone who is the absolute best at any given subject or activity, I'm pretty sure it isn't me. Does that mean that I'm bad at my job? Of course not. I can still be very good at my job even if I'm not the best project manager in the world. The fallacy we fall into is to believe that if we aren't the be...

Identifying your strengths is one of the most important things you can do in your life. I believe everyone has certain skills or abilities they are truly great at. There is a level of humility we have to maintain with our strengths though, or they can very quickly become a weakness for us. Someone that is bigger and stronger than everyone else can easily become a bully. Someone that is very knowledgeable about a given subject can easily talk condescendingly to others. Someone that is very helpful to others can easily be taken advantage of and asked to "help" with things others can do for themselves. Someone that is good at driving to get things done can easily become a bull in a china shop. Someone that is generous with their money can put themselves into troubling financial situations. We have to be honest about our strengths and what limits should be put on them. You can be one of the strongest people but if you try to lift too much weight you can inj...

Nobody does anything on there own. If you work for a company, are a member of a sports team, a production group, or any other organization you are on a team. Even if you are a sole proprietor or independent freelancer, your team includes your customers and your suppliers/vendors. Your family is a team. Unless you are off the grid, living off the land and have no interaction with another human being you are a member of a team. Since you are on a team, is it about you or is it about the team? One of the simplest yet most profound tests you can use to determine how much it is about the team is to measure your use of I/me/my and we/us/our. Listen to yourself and others. Read through emails or messages and see how often you talk about yourself versus the team. We all want to feel appreciated and to be recognized for our accomplishments. Nothing will erode others views of you faster though than putting yourself above the team.

I fear that servant leadership has become one of those buzz words that gets thrown around too easily and has lost a lot of meaning. But then I think of what is seen a lot from leaders today wouldn't be considered servant leadership at all so even if people like the buzz word doesn't mean they are actually executing it. I heard a concept once that has stuck with me that I think epitomizes what it means to be a servant leader. If you want to be a servant leader, your aim in life should not be becoming the hero, your goal should be becoming the wise leader that guides the hero. Don't be Luke Skywalker, become Yoda teaching Luke. Don't be Frodo, be Sam that is always by his side. Don't be Danial, be Mr. Miyagi. Don't be Harry Potter, be Professor Dumbledore. There are countless examples in stories where there is a secondary character that is vital in helping the hero become who they are meant to be. They are there to provide support, advice, friendship, encourage...

There are many days that I will reflect on and see only the mistakes that I've made or the opportunities I didn't grab hold of. It is that feeling when you look back on a conversation and the perfect words now fill your head, all the words that you didn't say. Some might say that is a negative view point, spending too much time looking at my mistakes and failures. I think about the things that I do well but that is usually easier because it is already a strength or something I have a talent for. There has to be a balance to look out our lives accurately. Know your strengths while not bragging about them. Looking at your weaknesses without dwelling on them. I believe greatness comes by looking at both our strengths and weaknesses. Often some of our biggest failures are what we learn the most from. You have to be okay with looking at your mistakes, failings and shortcomings because we all have them. It doesn't make you any less special, any less awesome. It just makes y...

It's funny how some people get into leadership positions, management or coaching and they miss the fact that it is no longer about you, it is about the people you lead. I strongly believe that an employee should hope to perform well and do everything they can to make their boss look better. That is about having a persons back though and supporting your team above all else. But too many leaders take advantage of this, or worse, force the people they lead to provide a certain amount of acclaim. They expect the people they manage to do things for them, that their employees should feel privileged to work for them. They not only drop hints that national bosses day or their birthday is coming up they are just shy of demanding that they celebrate it and bring them gifts. You can't begin to serve the people you lead well if you are focused on how others serve you. Leadership isn't about getting all of the attention, it is about helping others reach a higher level of performance tha...

Diversification is the key to any kind of success in my opinion. When you look at anyone that you find to be successful there is more than one teacher involved. I think that is known in how our education system is primarily setup, the way high school and college is structured you will have multiple teachers providing lessons at the end of which you have a degree. I look at a coach like Scott Frost, an up and coming college football coach that has been influenced by multiple Super Bowl winning coaches. He took ideas from everyone he crossed paths with and formed them into his own style. To be great you should want to hear from lots of different voices. As a leader the best thing that you can do is to encourage others to get feedback and insight from other people not just yourself. Too often leaders feel the need to be the smartest person in the room, but the greatest leaders know to surround themselves with the smartest people they can. They are humble enough to recognize that no matt...

Over my life there are different quotes, sayings, mantras, whatever you want to call them, the things that stick with me and I can recite over and over again to myself. The one that I tell myself and find myself sharing the most with people I come into contact with is to simply try to be better today than you were yesterday. To get better at anything, to improve, it usually isn't about big monumental changes, it is about the small incremental daily work and minor improvements. If each day you are the tiniest bit better than yesterday you are improving. Some days might be bigger steps forward than others, but if you are moving forward when you look back after a week, month, or year you can tell that you are in a better spot than you were. If you are trying to get better as an individual, a team, a department, a family, an organization or a community - start small. The larger the group the more progress you make collectively as each person does what they can to make a small improv...

Change is such a fascinating thing. There are so many nuances to it: We want a change but the change doesn't happen We don't want a change but the change happens Change happens but it isn't what we expect We want the change but it takes longer than we had hoped We want the change but it happens faster than we are prepared for No matter how we view change it is inevitable that we will encounter a lot of changes in our life. We won't like all of them, we'll probably love some of them, we will be impacted by all of them. If you are leading a change, things to remember: Communicate - Whatever amount of communication you think you need on the change, double it at a minimum. I would recommend 3-4 times the amount of communication that you would think you would need. Communicate 1-on-1, group presentations, written, visual the more ways you can communicate it the better you will be able to make it stick.  Repeat - You can't just get the word out once ...

Who wouldn't want to be the smartest person in the room? To be the one that everyone else looks to for the answers. To feel valued and important. If it is truly the case where any topic that comes up you know more than everyone else you are probably just calling a meeting to feed your ego. Treasure diversity. Seek out those that have strengths that compliment your weaknesses. Challenge your team to be okay challenging you. If you are the smartest person in the room every time, you aren't as smart as you think.

You will never be successful if your method is to tear others down. Only worry about being the best you you can be. You will never be successful if you don't have a work ethic.  Desire without effort is just a dream. You will never be successful if you think you are better than your teammates. Nobody ever did it all by their self, intentionally letting down your team is the ultimate selfish act. You will never be successful if you think your coach/teacher/boss doesn't know anything. Be humble enough to know there is always something you can do better. Being successful doesn't mean being the best, what do you want your life to be? If you don't like how things are going, your place, your spot, the attention you get, etc. Start by looking in a mirror, chances are that is where the problem is, but even if it isn't I guarantee you that what you will find is the only thing you can actually control.

A number of years ago I sat in a session given by Marshall Goldsmith where he asked everyone in the room to close their eyes and raise their hands if they considered themselves in the top 50% of all of the people in their field of work. He asked everyone to keep them up, without looking, if they felt they were in the 70th percentile, then 80th, and finally 90th percentile. If I asked you to do the same thing, where would you rank yourself? During the session Mr. Goldsmith told us to put our hands down and open our eyes and he went on to share that he has done this very informal and unscientific poll countless times and every time he has done it he estimates the vast majority feel they are in the top 90% in their particular field, and never could he remember not having anyone think they were at least in the top half. Think about the incredible odds of never getting someone that was below average in all the years and sessions he has done that. I've thought of that session recentl...

I played football a little bit growing up but I was made to play basketball and baseball, but over the years I have become a pretty big fan of the game. I'm a hard core Minnesota Vikings fan and focused most of my attention on the pro game, until recently. You see I've been blessed to be related through marriage to two exceptional young men who have worked hard and realized their dreams of continuing to play football at the collegiate level. This is something almost every boy dreams of growing up, just pick your sport. It has been an interesting experience as I've paid closer attention to stories in the media as well as fans, coaches and players on twitter. The passion that fans can show for their team can take some rather ugly turns though. If things aren't seemingly perfect the fans can turn very quickly. I am amazed at the level of hatred that fans can fire out at their so called favorite team. This got me thinking, what is a fan? What does the behavior of fans tell ...