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| Courage is at the Core of Leadership |
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I
have been thinking a lot about courage. It is at the core of
leadership. What is courage? Most of us recognize its opposite in this
snippet from The Wizard of Oz:
Cowardly Lion: Look at the circles under my eyes. I haven't slept in weeks.
Tin Woodsman: Why don't you try counting sheep?
Cowardly Lion: That doesn't do any good. I'm afraid of them.
But
our own position on the cowardice-courageous continuum is much more
subtle than that. Our personal development journey is strongly
determined by the extent of our courage. Do we seek feedback that we
don't want to hear? Are we open to opposing views or approaches? Are we
ready to address personal and professional obstacles blocking our
growth? Are we continually stretching our comfort zone?
What
about our courage to address team or organization issues that are
blocking progress? Do we point fingers or lament that "they" ought to
do something? Having the courage of our convictions calls for strong
leadership. It's much easier to be quiet and just go along. And the
silence can say it all. We've become a Cowardly Lion.
After
starting out the New Year in an intensive writer's conference, I have
just started scoping out and getting ready to scribe my first business
fable. It's built around having courageous conversations – both
listening and talking. Given lots of travel with a very full speaking,
workshop/retreat, and family calendar, and now moving in unfamiliar
fiction writing territory, I am not sure when I'll finish this book.
Here are a few preliminary thoughts that I want to flesh out further
through the story line:
- Giving in to our fear is to die before our body stops functioning.
- Sometimes it takes more courage to sit down and listen than it does to stand up and speak.
- It takes courage to see myself through the eyes of others.
- Courage is the key that unlocks the door to our inner selves.
- We all have fear. Courage is to master rather than be mastered by our fears.
- Bravery often increases with distance.
I'd
love to get your thoughts on courage. What helped you get up the
courage to do what you feared? What holds you back? Please e-mail your
thoughts and experiences to me at [email protected].
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| More on...Leading Spirited Teams |
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Life is full of such wonderful and mysterious coincidences. While I was working away on my next article for The Globe & Mail on
the credibility gap between management and the people in their
organization, Mark's e-mail below arrived. He was commenting on my last
Globe & Mail piece that was reprinted in Leader Letter (click here to review that section):
The
issue in this article resonates with me, and many people close to me.
However, I do find that your suggested ways of solving the problem miss
the fundamental problem: those who are in management positions who have
become "un-connected" (or never were) with those they are responsible
for. Several of your suggestions are too easy to be seen as cosmetic.
You don't make people feel part of the team by buying them new shirts,
having pep rallies, or having sessions that include their customers, or
spectators. If managers don't "connect" with their staff they have
failed to achieve the fundamental requirement of their job.
Too
often we see a promotion to "management" as being the reward for good
or superior performance; "you are a great cashier therefore we will
promote you to section manager..." Yet we fail to recognize that there
are almost no common attributes between the positions. Not only does
this put a (former) great performer into an environment where they are
more likely to fail, we lost the great performer cashier. And when we
discover the folly of that move, we find that it is irreversible due to
the loss of face or apparent failure of the former cashier.
The
Peter Principal is alive and thriving. Furthermore I also believe that
just because an individual is a skilled manager, I am not satisfied
that they are profoundly more valuable. In short we have created a
reward hierarchy that is often unsustainable; it over rewards modest
performers in the upper areas of the organization and equally under
recognizes excellence at the lower end of the hierarchy. This only
compounds the sense of injustice and resentment from those who are
primarily responsible for success through customer service. This is all
the more ironic when the interface between the customer and the
organization is at this point in the hierarchy.
Mark Brown, Professional Quality Surveyor and Public Sector Manager in Victoria, British Columbia
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| Accept What Can't Be Changed and Change What Can Be |
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Occasionally
when I speak to a group, or someone reads something I've written, the
hallelujah choir descends from the heavens in a blinding flash of
insight for that person! Of course, I always love it whenever that
happens. Equally as important (but less dramatic) is when someone's
current thinking or approach is reinforced and encouraged to continue
by something I've said or written.
Tabitha Rubin came across an excerpt from my latest book, The Leader's Digest: Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success, that was just added to our web site. Here is the article's description and link followed by Tabitha's e-mail:
Accept What Can't Be Changed and Change What Can Be
Accepting responsibility for choices starts with understanding where
our choices lie. We may not choose what happens to us, but we do choose
how to respond – or not.
What
an AWESOME article!!!! I have just recently learned how to let go of
things that are beyond my control or beyond my boundaries. It is a hard
pill to swallow sometimes. I am still trying to learn how keep things
from getting under my skin and reacting to things that are not
important. This article is confirmation that I am doing something right
for a change!
Your article breaks down the Serenity Prayer and gives it a whole new light... thank you for your wonderful insight!
Tabitha Rubin, Business Office Manager, Central Florida Internists, Inc.
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| Why is Real Leadership So Rare? |
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I
enjoyed receiving this thoughtful message on the nature of the
challenges of leadership in our organizations and society today. I hope
"Kevin's" thoughts and questions along with my response help you
further think through your own position on these vital leadership
issues.
After
decades of life in the corporate world, I am currently taking a masters
degree in leadership. Since the first year residency portion of the
degree I have become more and more convinced that "leaders" are far
less common than business would like to think. I am seeing that we are
getting more and more effective managers and because of their
effectiveness, we may be bestowing upon them the description of leader.
When
we work with teams we sometimes kick them off by putting them through a
survival exercise where each individual makes choices, and then works
with the rest of the group on the prioritizing problem. In almost all
cases the group decisions are shown to produce better results than
individual decisions.
As a
North American society we still seem to want a "white knight" to show
us the way, which is contrary to the shared leadership and better
decision making of the team process. A team can be fragile and needs to
have commitment to a clear vision. A team not only has a commitment to
their goal but also a commitment among team members to be supportive of
each other. They need to put in place measures dealing with conflict to
prevent the team from becoming dysfunctional.
Why
don't we create flatter transformational organizations through the use
of teams that allow spontaneous leadership based on the evolving and
changing needs? Wouldn't a flexible web-like, team-based, management
structure that is less hierarchical and bureaucratic produce better
holistic decisions?
Is part of
the problem the current individual decision maker paradigm of our
business and political cultures? They would have a lot to lose and
justify the sometimes obscene salaries and bonuses they receive. Is
part of the problem the resistance most of us have to altering the
status quo or being told we have to change?
We
are in a biosphere that is fragile and on a planet of finite resources.
The aboriginals used to make decisions based on the effects to the
seventh generation. Our "leaders" currently seem concerned about the
next quarter.
Although our
current business, political and "free enterprise" paradigms seem to be
working now, I do not feel our growth and consumption based systems are
sustainable from a biosphere and resource perspective. Am I wrong?
What
business and political structures do you see in the future? What
leadership characteristics will be needed on our evolutionary journey?
Will the great divides between have and have-nots be there?
I
would really appreciate your thoughtful considerations. Perhaps it is
because I am nearing achieving a paid up pension and from my experience
with teams as well as the way this current course has made me question
"leadership" but I feel that change is needed.
"Kevin"
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Permission to Reprint: You may reprint any items from the Leader Letter in your own print publication or e-newsletter as long as you include this paragraph:
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"Reprinted with permission from the Leader Letter,
Jim Clemmer's free e-newsletter. For over 25 years Jim Clemmer's
practical leadership approaches have been inspiring action and
achieving results. His 2,000+ presentations and workshops/retreats,
five bestselling books, columns, and newsletters are helping hundreds
of thousands of managers worldwide because they are inspiring,
instructive, and refreshingly fun. And best of all, they work! His web
site is www.clemmer.net."
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Hi "Kevin,"
I
agree that true leadership is a lot rarer than we'd like to think it is
– or should be. I have heard that 75% of us consider ourselves to be
above average in our driving skills – a statistical impossibility. I
often think the same is true about leadership.
I
believe a big part of the reason for the leadership shortfall is the
confusion of "management" and "leadership" and the failure to
appreciate the dynamic and creative tension between the two. I have
written extensively on the conflicts and synergy of management and
leadership. An entire section of free articles and columns on our web
site is devoted to this topic at http://www.clemmer.net/excerpts/m_leadership.shtml. Chapter One of my latest book, The Leader's Digest: Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success is built around this balance issue. It's freely available for reading at http://www.clemmer.net/excerpts/management_leadership.shtml.
Your
experiences and questions around the use of teams are an accurate
illustration of what a rotten job most organizations are doing at
harnessing the power of collective effort. That's often because western
society's strength and weakness is rugged individualism and the ideal
of the heroic manager single-handedly plucking victory from the jaws of
defeat. This ethic is embedded deep in our cultural myths and stories
as told through popular movies or the business press. We love the drama
of bold and courageous individual action. Strong and charismatic
personalities captivate us because they play such a big part in
exploring the unknown, fighting conventional thinking or oppression and
injustice, and building new societies and organizations.
Strong
teams are unmatched in their effectiveness at managing affairs inside
existing paradigms. Rugged, entrepreneurial individuals who refuse to
conform to group-think or the status quo do a much better job than
teams at leading us to new paradigms. We need both. Only the best
organizations can balance this paradox.
I
agree that we live in a very fragile biosphere. We have shrunk the size
of our world dramatically in the past century. And it's that growing
realization that will save us. In my new Growing the Distance: Personal Implementation Guide
I devoted a large section to the power of optimism and the dangers of
pessimism. The American Heritage Dictionary defines optimism as "the
belief that the universe is improving and that good will ultimately
triumph over evil." In contrast, pessimism is "the doctrine or belief
that this is the worst of all possible worlds and that all things
ultimately tend toward evil."
We need the
dynamic tension of both optimism and pessimism. Unrestrained optimism
can lead to complacency and refusal to address problems that need
improvement action. Chronic pessimism builds a self-fulfilling cycle
that spirals ever downward to hopelessness, cynicism, and inaction.
Leaders who make a difference and improve this world are forward
thinking optimists balanced with strategic pessimism.
There
are many hopeful signs in many spheres of life on this planet that we
are awakening to the connections between the spiritual, environmental,
business, and political realms. More people are asking the very
questions that you raise. I am very optimistic that we'll solve many of
these problems facing us today. I am also quite sure that those same
solutions will cause tomorrow's problems. And so the wheel of life and
leadership will continue to turn for future generations.
If you have perspectives to add, please e-mail them to me at [email protected].
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| Top Improvement Points from January |
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Of the short quotes with links to full articles that were e-mailed out as complimentary Improvement Points last month, the most popular with subscribers were:
"Strong
leaders who are effective coaches know the value of R & R
(reflection and renewal). They periodically pull themselves and their
teams back from daily work in operations to work on themselves. They
are constantly asking questions like, 'What should we keep doing, stop
doing, and start doing to be more effective?'"
- from Leaders Focus on Reflection and Renewal
www.clemmer.net/excerpts/leaders_focus.shtml
"For
the most effective companies, organizational spirit or culture is a
major competitive advantage. Companies can purchase the same equipment,
technologies, products, people, brands, facilities and other tangible
assets as their competitors. But they cannot buy the intangible culture
of caring for customers or commitment to high quality that makes or
breaks all their tangible investments. This can only be earned through
strong and consistent leadership."
- from Team Spirit Built from the Top
www.clemmer.net/excerpts/team_spirit.shtml
"Leaders
spend much less time personally solving problems. They invest their
time in making sure that the right problems are being solved."
- from Leaders Help People to Help Themselves
www.clemmer.net/excerpts/leaders_self.shtml
Subscribe or view the archives by topic area here:
www.clemmer.net/improvement.shtml.
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| Thoughts That Make You Go Hmmmm...on Courage |
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"But
the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is
before them, glory and danger alike, and yet not withstanding go out
and meet it."
- Thucydides, Ancient Greek historian
"Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared."
- Eddie Rickenbacker, American WW1 "Ace of Aces" and President of Eastern Airlines
"I would rather be a coward than brave because people hurt you when you are brave."
- E.M. Forster, British writer
"Laugh
at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When
you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely on
shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory."
- Alan Alda, actor
"I
believe that courage is all too often mistakenly seen as the absence of
fear. If you descend by rope from a cliff and are not fearful to some
degree, you are either crazy or unaware. Courage is seeing your fear in
a realistic perspective, defining it, considering alternatives, and
choosing to function in spite of risks."
- Leonard Zunin quoted in Tempered Radicals: How People Use Difference to Inspire Change at Work by Debra E. Meyerson
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| Public Workshop - Leadership, Change, and Personal Growth |
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Leading @ the Speed of Change
Are
you feeling overwhelmed and overworked? Do you need practical
approaches to leading yourself and others through all the craziness in
today's world?
Leadership is even more critical to our personal, team, and organization success in today's fast changing environment.
That's
why you won't want to miss this rare opportunity (I only do a few open
or public workshops per year) to spend two powerful days together on
this crucial success factor.
Join me right here in my hometown, Kitchener, Ontario, for two intensive days at my Leading @ the Speed of Change workshop. Check it out at www.clemmer.net/events/lsc/lsc.shtml.
Kitchener, ON - May 31 - June 1, 2005
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| Feedback and Follow-Up |
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I
am always delighted to hear from readers of The Leader Letter with
feedback, reflections, suggestions, or differing points of view. I am
also happy to explore customized, in-house adaptations of any of my
material for your team or organization, drop me an e-mail at [email protected].
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I hope to connect with you again next month!
Jim
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post or pass this newsletter on to colleagues, clients, or associates
you think might be interested. If you received this newsletter from
someone else, and would like to subscribe, click here: www.clemmer.net/subscribe.shtml Phone: (519) 748-1044 ~ Fax: (519) 748-5813 ~ E-mail: [email protected]
www.clemmer.net | | | | | |
| Copyright 2005, Jim Clemmer, The CLEMMER Group |
