A Leader’s Job

June 29, 2026

Good morning! That was sucked away fast — June, that is.  Wow! It’s not meteorologically accurate, nor astronomically accurate, but in some circles summer is already 33% gone! Before we muse again it will have been July 4, 2026 — the 250th anniversary since the upstart, fledgling Continental Congress adopted the U.S. Declaration of Independence…… not the signing of that document, mind you, that happened a month later — and several months later for some of the signers. But, do you have any special thoughts or feelings about this anniversary when compared to #249 or #248?People tend to forget about Tom Paine, the author of Common Sense. Tom probably had more to do with the decision to declare independence than that other Tom who gets talked about more often.

• And so, just like that, 16 teams go back home… unless they extend their stays to watch the other 32 — or, to eat a hot hog or two…
  • No more ties… soon it will be just 16 remaining.
  • O Canada!
• Warning:  This story doesn’t have a happy ending, but it’s poignant and somewhere in it is a metaphor, perhaps.
  • Last Tuesday a friend and I were driving back to St. Cloud from a meeting we had attended in Minneapolis.
  • The trip normally takes about an hour, but we were in a torrential rain, the kind where you should probably stop but you can’t because thousands of other cars aren’t stopping.
  • And so, you motor on hoping for a little bit of visibility and lots of luck.
  • The traffic had slowed to a 5 MPH crawl.
  • I suddenly became aware of Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Oack, Pack, and Quack on the roadway, less than a day old, so small, fluffy, innocent, and covered with the softest down.
  • Mom Mallard was nowhere in sight; why in the world would she take her freshly hatched ducklings across six lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic during a hurricane-level rain?!
  • And, it was smack-dab in the middle of rush hour t’ boot.
  • The little ones were doing their best; some had made it all the way to the shoulder but lacked a sense of direction of where to go next.
  • Some even seemed to be smiling at having made it half-way to safety and maybe a small pond on which to swim.
  • Mom was nowhere in sight.
  • My friend and I hypothesized she might have encountered an impatient driver wielding an assault vehicle moments earlier.
  • It was those eight little ones vs. thousands of slowed-down drivers wanting to go faster.
  • I don’t know the survival rate for baby Mallard ducklings, but I suspect it decreases considerably in six lanes of rush hour traffic during a torrential rain.
  • I fear there is no happy ending to this story.
  • What would you have done?
• “One of the (more) important jobs of a leader is to make people feel optimistic about the future.  But it can’t be naive optimism, it can’t be Pollyannaish.”  (Kirby)
  • “I also believe in self-fulfilling prophecies.  By saying you’re going to do incredible stuff, you make it a whole lot more likely it’s going to happen.”  (Ibid.)
  • “One thing we’ve learned is great leaders find a way to constantly radiage energy to others…
  • … My son, who was taking chemistry, said, ‘Dad, it’s like they’re exothermic’.  It feels like that’s a piece of it, that there are these moments when you’re giving other people energy.” (Sternfels)
  • “And, people can feel if you have energy and passion…
  • … Another thing I say is people often confuse management and leadership.
  • Management is about compliance; it’s about, Did you show up to work on time?  Did you do the checklist?  
  • But leadership is about inspiration and vision; it’s about how you make people feel.”  (Ibid.)
  • “The further you move in your career, the more you index to leadership — and by the time you’re in my job, by the time you’re the CEO, it’s 100% leadership.”  (bid.)
• Is professionalism still a thing in our society?  In the business world?  In the nonprofit world?  Anywhere?
  • Professionalism encompasses the broad set of shared beliefs, expectations, and practices guiding how people within a work place should interact with one another…
    • … e.g., communication style, punctuality, etiquette, dress, engagement…
  • But, opinions differ:  Cameras on?  Cameras off?  (On the Zooms, that is), Do meetings start on time?  Is arriving late acceptable or offensive?
  • Does anyone say or do anything about those who colour outside of the lines?
  • Bottom line:  Are your organization’s professional norms good or bad for YOUR particular work place?
    • (How about interactions with customers or clients?  This author doesn’t address this, a seemingly huge hole.)
  • When defined and communicated well and fairly, professional standards can effectively guard against harmful behaviour while creating a shared sense of identity…
    • (You feel a certain vibe when you walk into the lobby, a meeting space, or the Board room of an organization.)
  • … but, defined poorly, professionalism can divide and distract workers and/or unintentionally incentivize detrimental behaviour.  (Informed by Zheng)
  • Bottom line:  Every leader has a responsibility to create, promote, and sustain a version of professionalism designed for their unique work place.
• And, if you’ve read this far (thank you!), CBS News has curated what it calls the Best 250 Songs in the United States tradition.
  • What would you add or subtract?  250 Songs