Monday was a blissful day for me. Along with several of our Executive Roundtable members, I did one of my favourite things: recharge my batteries in order to climb my next leadership summit. I think every leader should allow themselves some uninterrupted time to listen to some very smart people talk about some new and (cleverly repackaged) old ways of refreshing your leadership approach (and maybe even giving yourself a kick in the leadership pants). As presenter Patrick Lencioni pointed out: “people need to be reminded more than they need to be instructed.” Amen. As I see it, the challenge with leading is that most of us know what we should be doing… it’s just that the day-to-day firefighting gets in our way. Hence, why the occasional day to recharge is so crucial. For those who missed the event (or have no clue how Twitter hashtags work), here are some of my favourite tweets from the conference. Enjoy:
Patrick Lencioni – bestselling author and amazing ad libber
- Any organization that wants to max it’s success must be Smart AND Healthy (GRM: healthy means: lo politics, high morale, low turnover.
- We spend 95% of our time on trying to be “Smart” and tweaking the “hard” measures. The “Healthy” stuff is too hard to measure and to fix.
- Real trust at the exec level shows up by people being able to be vulnerable. One member of a team can poison a team if they refuse to be vulnerable. (GRM – What can you do if the CEO refuses to be vulnerable?)
- Forget “don’t let them see u sweat”. Your team sees you sweating. Show them the sweat stains!
- When you have trust on a leadership team, conflict is simply the pursuit of truth. Without trust it’s politics.
- If people don’t weigh in on a decision, they don’t buy in it either. If people are not heard they engage in passive commitment. Without it, there’ll be an avoidance of accountability.
- So many leaders balk at dealing with addressing people-based issues. Behavioural accountability always precedes results.
- Confronting people about their behaviours is messy and hard but leaders have to do it.
- When you lead well, you have an amazing opportunity to impact people’s lives for the positive.
Ann Rhoades – values and customer-centric Maven
- Doesn’t matter what you put on the wall. Values are what you say and do. Enron’s #1 value was Integrity. And we know how that worked!
- Great organizations involve people in knowing the numbers. People can help if they know what we expect.
- To get consistency of performance you have to clearly define your values.
- What you are internally (as an organization) is what you are externally (to your clients).
- Leadership is about driving behaviours and values. The behaviour part is critical and leaders HAVE to hold people accountable.
- Working with someone you don’t like and think you can’t get rid of? Send their resume to one of your competitors
General Rick Hillier – kickass leader
- It’s interesting to hear all these leadership guru’s talk about things that Newfoundlanders know intuitively!
- In the army, mentoring was better known as ass-kicking.
- I learned about 70% of my leadership from bad leaders. Learn what not to be.
- Optimism drives passion which drives people.
- Spend 95% of yourself on the keepers. Remember that, as a leader, your job is people. And if you get that, you’ll be alright.
- One person can make a difference. As leaders we need to watch for these people in our organizations and support them.
- As a leader, you have to do more than build a vision. You need to inspire groups of people. Do it by inclusion.
Tim Sanders – author and thought provoker
- Success is a direction. And the direction is forward. In economic uncertainty, leaders move sideways.
- Everybody’s a leader in a bull market. It’s during the downturn when true leadership emerges.
- Greed is just fear in good times. Do you have an abundance mindset or do you worry that there isn’t enough to go around?
- 7 principles of total confidence: #1 Feed your mind good stuff, #2 Move the conversation forward, #3 Exercise your gratitude muscle, #4 Give to be rich, #5 Prepare yourself, #6 Balance your confidence, #7 Promise Made, Promise Kept
- Culture is a conversation. Stop talking about the negative and start talking about progress
Tom Rath – author and strengths guru
- People zoom in on the areas of failure, and ignore others which have the biggest growth potential. People leave managers and not companies.
- Of 100 staff, 20 are engaged & look out for you, 64 not engaged but show up & 16 are actively disengaged and will get even!
- You’re better off telling the few destructive souls to stay at home, pay their salary & keep them away from other staff & customers.
- Individuals don’t have to be well-rounded, but teams should be.
I think our tweeters ran out of steam at the end of the day. Thanks to everyone out there who grabbed some great quotes. Check out the tag at #taol and check out the next Art of production (The Art of Marketing) in Vancouver on June 9th (Hey Scott – when are you guys getting some sleep??). You can follow those tweets at #taom.
And, watch for the next Art of event in Toronto in the fall. We’ll be there for sure.
Happy leading!
