Category Archives: Leadership

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Leaders Can Learn From College RAs

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Most leaders can learn an important lesson from the RAs at TCU who are creating a sense of community in the residence halls on campus.  You can read about it in this excellent article entitled “Culture of Caring.”  The article makes an important point that creating a sense of community requires intentionality. Daniel Terry, TCU’s director of Community Renewal, puts it this way:

“We’re trying to create whole people here at TCU. [TCU has always had an emphasis on personal attention and mentoring relationships.] We’re implementing Community Renewal at TCU because, like all communities, there needs to be some intentionality around relating to the people around you.  Where there is no intentionality, people tend to take relationships for granted.”

So true.

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Has SAS Institute’s Goodnight Cracked the Code on Corporate Culture?

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Congratulations to SAS Institute for being recognized the second year in a row as #1 on Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Places to Work list. Last year I met with Jim Goodnight, SAS Institute’s founder and CEO, to learn more about his leadership and SAS Institute’s culture.  You can read the article I wrote at  The Economic Times‘ website or below.

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Happiness at Work Podcast

alter logoJason Pankau and I were guests on a podcast for clients of The Alter Group, one of America’s leading real estate development firms.  The podcast host was Tom Silva, Vice President of the Alter Group. Our topic was happiness at work, leadership, employee engagement and employee motivation. You can check it out at this link or download it on iTunes.

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Can We Humanize Organizational Cultures?

Check out this thought-provoking interview with Peter Block. During the interview he states the following:

“in the context of organization development, what we’re trying to do is humanize systems.  The systems of consistency and control and predictability steal our humanity.”

Do you agree?  Can organizations achieve consistency, control and predictability while still preserving our humanity? How about  organizations where the cost of failure is high such as hospitals, nuclear power plants, NASA and the armed services?

Jason Pankau and I teach leaders that it’s necessary to achieve both task excellence and relationship excellence if you aspire to achieve sustainable superior performance.  In the modern era, we’ve certainly focused on and made great strides forward in achieving task excellence but we have failing miserably when it comes to achieving relationship excellence.  Two articles Jason and I wrote are relevant to this topic.  The first article entitled “Strengthening Human Value in Organizational Cultures” appeared in the Leader to Leader Journal.  The second article entitled “Encouraging Knowledge Flow” appeared in Perdido.

What do you think?

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Coach Rex Ryan Connects with Jets

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Check out this great article entitled “Channelling Churchill, Ryan Inspires His Team” on New York Jets’ football coach Rex Ryan  The article makes several important points that support the conclusion we came to from our research on leaders who produce sustainable superior performance.  Our research concluded that sustainable superior performance comes when leaders develop task excellence and relationship excellence.  Rex Ryan is doing this by connecting with his players on both emotional and rational levels. He connects rationally by communicating and leading his team to implement effective strategy and tactics.  This produces “task excellence.”  Ryan’s passion and authenticity helps him connect on an emotional level.  This helps produce “relationship excellence.” Ryan communicates simple, relevant and memorable themes with phrases such as “burn the boats” and “how dare you?” He tells memorable stories to illustrate his points.

The Jets are a decent team but not a great team, yet.  They just pulled off a big playoff win by defeating the Indianapolis Colts.  Given what I’m seeing, I expect the Jets are on the rise as Rex Ryan and team continue to develop a Connection Culture with Vision, Value and Voice.

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Upcoming Leadership Events

Below are links to several leadership events that Jason Pankau and I will be speaking at or participating in.

On January 27, I’ll join Dean Homer Erekson of the Neeley School of Business at TCU where we will discuss leadership and employee engagement as part of the Tandy Leadership Speakers Series.

On February 10-11, I’ll be in London participating in the HTB Leadership Conference.

On March 4-6, I’ll be in at the Homestead resort in Virginia where my colleague Jason Pankau will speak at the New Canaan Society Annual Retreat.

On March 7-9, I’ll be speaking about leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation at the National Human Capital Summit in Atlanta.  I hope you’ll check it out and consider attending.

On March 10-11, Jason Pankau and I will be speaking about Connection Cultures, leadership, employee engagement, productivity and innovation at the Learning for Life Conference in Reno, Nevada.

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How Solitude Shapes Great Leaders

Take time to read this thoughtful speech entitled Solitude and Leadership by William Deresiewicz given to this year’s plebe class at West Point. He describes how great leaders develop the courage of their convictions, which includes moral courage. Reflection, time alone with one’s thoughts, interactions with trusted friends and reading great books, as Deresiewicz says, are part of the mix.  What he didn’t adequately include is the impact of one’s experiences in life including one’s family of origin and periods of adversity and suffering that breed humility.  Despite its shortcomings, it’s a fine speech and well worth taking time to read.

Many thanks to David Books of The New York Times for bringing this thoughtful speech to my attention.  Brook’s recognized Deresiewicz’s speech as one of the best pieces of long journalism written in 2010.

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Motivate Employees Now

Fired_Up_or_Burned_Out_Book_CoverThis morning appeared as a guest on my friend Jim Blasingame’s nationally-syndicated “Small Business Advocate” radio program where we talked about leadership, employee engagement and productivity.  During the program, Jim and I discussed how the three core elements of a Connection Culture — Vision, Value and Voice — motivate employees to give their best efforts and align their behavior with organizational goals.  One of the ideas I shared was to bring employees together to read and discuss a management book including how it applies to their business.  To get them started,  I offered a free download of the digital version of Fired Up or Burned Out to listeners who sign up for my email newsletter.  To sign up for the newsletter and access the free book download click on this link.

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Shine the Light on Others

u2_wallpaper_rattle_humBono, megastar of the rock band U2, frequently shines the light on his fellow band members.  In the photo above, Bono is shining a spotlight on The Edge, U2’s legendary lead guitar player. Bono does this in a metaphorical sense too.  Bono has stated that he’s a lousy guitar and keyboards player, and that his gifted fellow band members bring to life the melodies he hears in his head. He’s also said that being around his fellow band members makes him a better human being. Furthermore, Bono has said that when one of one of his fellow band members is in need it takes precedence over the band’s music.

Are you shining the light of recognition and belonging on your family members, your friends and your colleagues at work?  Here are some actions to consider:

  • When you see someone doing something that’s admirable, be sure to let them know that you recognize it.
  • Tell your family members and friends how much and why you appreciate them.
  • When you are in a group discussion, praise others for their good ideas and opinions.
  • Send a hand-written personal note of appreciation to a family member, friend or colleague at work.
  • When a family member, friend or colleague at work is sick, send them a get well gift.
  • When a family member, friend or colleague at work has something to celebrate congratulate them.