How Do Leaders Perform?

September 19, 2022Acres and acres of small grains are finding their way to grocery store shelves, the corn is ripening, and the pumpkins are metamorphing to orange…… at least those having thus far escaped the doughnut fryer.If you squint perfectly, you’ll be treated to just the hint of color in the Central Minnesota poplars, birch, and maples.(Is birch plural without the es?)

• IF we are headed for a recession, how much of it is caused by those who want it least?
  • Is it possible to out-think and out-maneuver the macro-trends?
• Did you ever think about it, trouble has an exponential quality about it?
• Run, don’t walk, to see Ron Howard’s latest gem of a masterpiece, Thirteen Lives.
  • Brilliant storytelling, (nearly) true to the facts, spellbinding cinematography and editing, and very little — if any– pandering.
  • Especially go see it if you are an anesthesiologist or an anesthetist… and you know who you are — and you’ll know why.
  • Wow!  (Of how much value is one life?  Thirteen lives?)
• Mikhail Gorbachev, the Russian, was asked about the meaning of life:  “You’re born, you suffer, you die.”
• The gender pay gap is apparently still real, and it starts at a very young age.  (WSJ)
  • Just three years out of undergraduate college, nine out of the ten most popular areas of study yield greater compensation for men.
  • According to the United States Department of Education, the hardest-hit areas are business management and operations, criminal justice, and nursing.
  • Among the top ten most popular baccalaureate majors, only marketing and communication result in a slight compensation edge for women. (2022)

How Do Leaders Perform?

• Fewer than ten percent (10%) of leaders achieve to the top one-tenth of performers (get it?!).  [An actual factoid reported recently.]
  • But, the point is made:
    • Vision
    • Strategy
    • Resource Allocation
• Top Ten signs you’re in a toxic work environment:  Look no further than communication… you don’t need the other nine as they tend to be functions of poor communication.
  • Rarely does anything top the getting and giving of information; it shouldn’t be difficult, but it is.
  • Information — accurate and complete information — is often your greatest asset, and yet you curiously guard it as if using it will deplete its value.
  • If you communicate well it will have the effect of providing $100 bills to each of your people each time you do it.
• The biggest mistake almost all leaders make?
  • Failing to ask for help at the right time, of the right people.
• “Steady as she goes,” is a nautical expression meant to convey momentary calm, but it can change at any moment.
• “Be such a beautiful soul that other people crave your vibe.”  (Brown)
• “Success can be attained without proper rest, but it can’t be sustained without it.”  (Grant)
• “If leaders have more than five (5) priorities, that’s too many for a team to execute well… focus!”  (Eades)
• What are you reading?
  • Goodwin’s tome, No Ordinary Time (1994), is nothing short of brilliant.
  • Even if you are not a fan of Roosevelt, you would be hard-pressed to find fault with the Pulitzer-winning author.
  • Each page is like savoring your favourite food or beverage… so good, such luscious prose.

• • “The task of the leader is to get his (her) people from where they are to where they have not been.”  (Kissinger, 2022)
  • “You think he’s angry now, wait ’til we win him over.”  (Ted — Lasso)
  • “Who am I to judge?”  (Jorge Bergoglio)
  • Ever wish you had a better idea of where you were going — or when, or why, or how?
  • On the topic of vision… since that’s what this Newsletter is all about:
    • “You can’t outsource vision or passion — or for that matter, leadership.” (Andrew)
    • “Without a vision the people perish.” (Habiger, Etc., et al.)
    • “At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed 10,000 (people) to guard the past.”  (Nobel Laureate, Maeterlinck)
    • “What if our best data are flawed?”  (Dilbert/ Adams)
    • “You can never plan the future by the past.”  (A. Lincoln)
    • Vision is a destination — a fixed point to which we focus all effort; strategy is a route, an adaptable path to get us to where we want to go.”  (Sinek)
    • “Vision is the capacity to see that which does not yet exist.”  (Eades)