Leadership

Today I watched a broadcast of The Charlie Rose Show on PBS. He was interviewing two leaders who have written books about their lives: Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic and now professor of management at Harvard Business School; and John Whitehead, former co-Chairman of Goldman Sachs, and former Under Secretary of State for the Reagan administration. They reminded me of some of the great qualities of leadership that make the difference in our effectiveness.

When asked what makes great leaders both reflected that it wasn't about people projecting some form of idealized perfection. They respectively admired men like Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Neither man was flawless, but each was an unforgettable leader. They both were decisive, able to go against conventional wisdom of their times, and were masters at creating consensus and empowering the people around them.

An amazing feat of Lincoln's was that he pulled together a team of his own adversaries to create a cabinet that would actually serve the country. Those same people grew to respect him and were able to follow him with integrity. Churchill was actually ostracized by his peers for his views until the challenges of World War II made it necessary for them to utilize his expertise.

Both Lincoln and Churchill failed and rose again, which is an attribute that makes leaders stronger. They learned from their experiences, were patient, and listened, but made the decisions that they knew were right.

"People support things they help create." When Bill George tried to sell others on his creations, he failed. When he learned to listen to others and include them in the creation of the direction, they were willing to follow him. He says that the key business leaders he has seen fail did so because they didn't lead themselves. They got caught up in compensation, reaching goals, or some other external form and stopped listening, to themselves and others, and didn't lead from within, so failed.

George and Whitehead agreed that without the challenge of failure leaders cannot grow into greatness. This is something I firmly believe: the difficulties, the challenges, the nay-sayers of your life fuel your fire, inform your growth, and give you the opportunity to find your strength.

Another client moaned this week about how it would be so great if the challenges were somehow easier. Would that really help? Is it possible that the very thing you believe is insurmountable, yet right in front of you, is your ticket to greatness? Is the price of that ticket your willingness to face yourself, look inside and find the strength and character it takes to move through that impossible difficulty?

Great leaders today are able to align people around principles and values then empower those people to play a role in creating solutions for the challenges they face. Are you spending more time bemoaning how hard it is or being grateful you have been given a blessing of difficulty so you can grow through it and find your greatness? Are you carefully building a team of powerful, self-confident people around you that will work with you to achieve your objectives? Are you in self-denial or are you seeking the honest opinion of others to find out what they can teach you about yourself?

If you haven't ever hit the wall and failed, been unable to truly move through a challenge, do you actually know yourself? To me, it is the humbling factor that opens up the possibility to ask for help, learn from what didn't work, and regroup with what you now know and get up and go again.

My beloved father used to say, "Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement." Can you really trust yourself to work with a leader who hasn't failed and learned from it? Would you want to work for someone who not only doesn't recognize the value of those around him/her but doesn't bring out the best in people?

Is that the kind of leader you are?

Taking my Time

I love how Einstein taught us about time. When we are doing something we truly enjoy, time flies. When we're in difficult moments, time seems to slow down. And every once in a while we get into a zone where time doesn't seem to exist.

I recently struggled with a moral dilemma that made days seem like eternities, moments like eons. I was looking at my situation upside down and sideways, and couldn't find my way clear to resolve it. What to do?

The amazing thing I came to see is that I was so caught up in it that I couldn't even talk about it!!! That is not my norm--I usually talk things out, ask for help, get feedback. But this problem was so deeply affecting my soul that although I could talk about parts of it, I just couldn't face letting the whole story come out in the open.

My friends and family started asking me what was wrong, and I responded in my usual way, "I'm fine!" And I kept convincing myself that I was!

But I wasn't, and I finally had to come to grips with it and realize that I couldn't contain the emotional stuff leaking out of me-- and that if I didn't start talking about it and getting more help, I would end up being ill.

Thank god I did--and the help poured out from myriad sources! What a blessing! I have worked through it, I know what to do, I have a plan and can now execute it.

Should I have come to the resolution sooner? Did I waste the time I spent ruminating on the inside? Is there an X on my life "report card" for not making good use of time and materials? (That is a left-over from elementary school....)

I feel so much better right now that I don't mind that I took my time. It is just where I was, and I do believe--for many reasons--I did the best I could do to deal with the situation. If I were younger, I probably would be beating myself up for not resolving it sooner. A great advantage to being almost 60 is that I understand process and am willing to go through it.

Thank god!