Reflections # 14 Obama’s Got It Right on IRAN-LET IT BE

“There will be an answer – Let it be, Let it be”.   The Beatles

President Obama’s response is  just right on the IRAN mess. He is saying the right things and not interjecting us into the business of Iranian internal politics. He has condemned the violence and injustice. And has talked about the norms and principles of human rights. I don’t know what his critics think he should do. Maybe waving a rifle or sword at his news conference today would have silenced them. He is approaching this with the theme that it is their mess to clean up and consequences will come after they have settled this matter with the Iran citizens. By the way how many Republican critics were heard from during the blood bath in Tiananmen Square? Wasn’t there  a republican in office at this time?  By the way what were the consequences for China after that mess? Oh, yeah– we started to trade with them more.

Obama always the pragmatist is sending a moral message that RFK said many years ago about civil rights—

“Each time a person stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he or she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope”

Robert F. Kennedy

 

Reflections #13: Get UnStuck –Live A Life of No Regrets

“We never look back. We just figure there is so much to look forward to that there is no sense thinking of what we might have done. It just doesn’t make any difference. You can only live life forward.” Warren Buffett

Regret is the feeling of disappointment when looking back at what we have done. It does have a piece of self-pity. Also, sadness for what took place. Instead of seeing experiences as just experiences to be lived. Try learning the lessons that experience teach rather than looking back and obsessively contemplating what could have been.
So as you think about your life right now–If you had your life to live over again…what would you do differently?

As I reflect on this life of no regrets I remember a wonderful though by Reinhold Niebuhr in his book The Irony of American History (1952): 

“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime;
Therefore, we must be saved by HOPE.
Nothing which is true, or beautiful, or good, makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we must be saved by FAITH.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, could be accomplished alone;
Therefore, we must be saved by LOVE.
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our own standpoint;
Therefore, we must be saved by the final form of love, which is FORGIVENESS. “

-Reinhold Niebuhr

Small Things Big Impact: SMILE

“People with high levels of personal mastery cannot afford to choose between reason and intuition, or head and heart, any more than they would choose to walk on one leg or see with one eye.”  Peter Senge, MIT Sloan School of Management

I was reviewing Tom Peters, The Heart of Business Strategies :  56 * Things that Matter and was struck by a few that I think can guide your daily checklist for success. I am capturing them  under the word SMILE. If you like it put it on a post it note over your computer to keep you grounded and motivated.

Purpose-Centered Performance Leadership Exercise #3: Values the bedrock of “Walk the Talk”

“Example is not the MAIN THING in influencing others. It is the only the only THING.”  

 Dr. Albert Schweitzer

Many leadership guru’s talk about the need for leaders and followers to have shared values and meaning about the vision and mission of the organization.  And yet the overwhelming view is that many espoused values are not carried out in “walking the talk of action”. Values only come alive on daily interaction and decisions. It does no good to hang mission and vision statements in the elevator or lunch room and behave differently in interacting with employees and customers.  Leaders must be congruent in what they say and do to build trust. It especially important to honor your values not just in good times but in times when you are when under pressure or stress. Values are the heart and head of an individuals identity. Values are life long concepts that drive what we think is important in life to do. Values ground our personal visions and judgments .  So the question for a would be leader: What are the values that make up your personal vision? 

Reflection #12: Our 43th Wedding Anniversary– A Priceless Connection and Lessons Learned

“Being connected and personal is to be in the process of discovering and accepting each other…trust begets trust; fear escalates fear.”    Jack Gibb . author of Trust: A New View of Personal and Organizational Development  

Birthday, anniversary, new year all are  stopping points for me. I take the time  to stop and reflect and celebrate.  Helen and I are celebrating our 43rd wedding anniversary. WOW!!! What a great day. I found a special person to live my life with. We are best friends and partners. Each of us are fallible human beings with our own strengths and weaknesses. The luck side of this is the way we compliment each other and learn from one another.  This is a journey together through good and bad times. What lessons have I learned in this special relationship called marriage?

Law of Leadership Effect: Presenting Stcky Messages

“The new leader is one who inspires and commits people to action, who converts followers into leaders, and who may convert leaders into agents of change through his words and action.” Warren Bennis

When communicating with others you are either being heard and responded to (connection) or missing an opportunity and being ignored or dismissed ( failing to connect).

That’s the bottom line. You don’t get to stand still in communicating with others and you don’t get much time to make your impact. So how do you make your message memorable or sticky?

How to make your message sticky or memorable? I’ve read a lot of either complicated or touchy feely stuff about how to connect with others.  I like practical, useable stuff, so here are a few  simple, practical ideas:

• Make message relevant to participant needs and wants.
• Have a conversation with yourself about when you were feeling really connected and understood by an audience. When and where was it? What were you saying? How was the person or group or audience reacting?  What was memorable?
• When you felt the most understood and  and most connected, what were you saying and doing? Then make a list of the things you did when you felt the most connected.

Now here’s the practical part – pick a few of the things you did when you were making solid and energizing connections , and then do them again in your next presentation or interaction. I call this the Law of Effect.  

How to make your message memorable?

You need to created a sigbificant overiding goal (SOG) or theme for your presentation or interaction. Once you settle on the theme or objective, then work on developing a powerful phrase or sticky slogan to capture the essence of the broader theme.  When you have a powerful line which has been field tested with trusted associates then find ways to insert, say or demonstrate it throughout your interactions and presentations. Remember repetition is one of the most powerful memory tools in communicating. Findout more on the concept of Stickiness  by reading

Reinvention: Smart-Step Self Coaching

“Speech is power; Speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

As a presentation coach for CPA’s , M.D.’s, Lawyers and executives for years, I focus on helping my clients replace self-sabotaging thinking and ideas with meaningful purposes and powerful goals and  performances through constructive thinking and actions.  I call this the Smart-Step process. It is all about establishing a clear and meaningful purpose, confidence through positive self-talk and developing through realistic practice, feedback and execution plans.

Thriving on Teamwork

Individual commitment to a group effort–that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work”  Vince Lombardi

I think leadership is all about building great teams. That, in the end, is all personal — how do you think team involvement changed who you are today? I think  it humbled me. When you finally discover that your success is dependent on help from and cooperation with others, that almost every decision you make can’t go anywhere with  out followers and suppoerters. You feel a sense of pride, trust, and responsibility when your team is aligned and focused on the shared vision or dream you all want to reach. In the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni, presents the case for building effective and cohesive teams. He observes the obivious that building  a team  is hard work but also simple. Sound confusing it is. The author’s argument is focused on critical factors for ensuring success such as, courage and persistence. Of course individuals need to bring motivation and factors such as courage and persistence to the team. Yet to build an effective team producing desired results needs much more than just courage and persistence. One of critical factors for building an effective team is to pay attention to the selection of  individuals who make-up the team. Then we need to assess how the individuals will fit to together and assess their readiness to work together in a collobrative and synergistic way.

Here are a few questions for you to ask as you undertake the development of an effective and productive team.

1. Does your team have the right members who bring unique strengths and and talents for achieving the vision, solving the problems and finding opportunities to be tackled?

2. Is your group really a team or just a collection of independent people meeting together to share information but have no shared goal or purpose?

3. How does your team handle disagreements and conflicts –focusing on different points of view and styles or ignoring and burying differences ? 

4. Are team members clear on the expectations and task at hand?

5. What are you doing to measure the team’s readiness for team problem solving, interpersonal conflicts and reporting results of their work? What training do they need to work together and succeed in their mission?