Your One Piece of Advice

I am currently in Vancouver BC for the annual Women President’s Organization conference.We ended a great day of programing last night with a dinner. At my table our hostess threw out a fabulous question – looking back on your time as President what is the one thing you wish you had done or learned sooner? Wow! Great question and it fueled a fabulous evening of discussions. What is great is that all the advice was relevant regardless of the business. From me being a manufacture of bearings and linear guide systems, to law, marketing, construction, consultation, healthcare and production companies, the advice all rang so true for all of us.

The following is a list of some of the top pieces of advice we discussed:

-          Trust your instincts

-          Make your career something you really love and inspires you

-          Don’t be afraid of lawyers

-          Be committed to your decisions

-          Ask for help – reach out to your network

-          There is real power, knowledge and support in peer review groups

-          The more you delegate, the more your business will grow

-          Learn and continue to work on how to be a great leader

-          Don’t be afraid to scale your business

-          Have a strategic legal plan for your company

This is the start of a great list. I would love to read what others advice would be. Please post your comments below for all to learn from.

What If?

I recently attended the Power Transmission Distributor Association (PTDA) Summit in Phoenix, Arizona (www.ptda.org). There I had the pleasure of hearing Mike Rayburn speak as a keynote speaker (www.mikerayburn.com).The title of Mikes’ address was “What If and Why Not?” Mike is an amazingly talented musician who uses music and comedy to get across some really big ideas. In this day and age we all want to be innovative. We all want to differentiate our products or services. We are all looking for value-add and a way to deepen our relationship with our customers. But we tend to get caught up on how to do it. Because usually truly achieving any of these goals requires a huge shift in thinking and/or behaviors. It means learning a new process or skill; defining a new technology or way of thinking. And that gets a bit scary and risky. But Mike pushes back and says why not just break it down into smaller parts and ask – What if or Why Not?

Mike stressed the importance of starting on the path to the goal. Don’t worry about having everything mapped out and solved. Interestingly enough that has been a theme I have heard recently from several people.  Mike says that often you just have to set your course and start moving and interestingly enough the solutions and resources will start coming to you. Deepak Chopra taught us the same thing in the “Soul of Leadership” class I took at Kellogg School of Management.  Deepak said we need to learn to trust the universe; that when you put big ideas out there, and you start to gain awareness, the universe will start to deliver the solution (http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/execed/Programs/SOUL.aspx). Just last month in my WPO Platinum meeting our facilitator Chris McGoff, Founder & CEO of The Clearing stressed the use of primes in creating strategic vision for our companies. One prime we learned was “Trust the Universe”. A concept that if we set our sights on what we have the know-how to achieve we tend to limit our vision and constrain our future. Visionary leaders make declarations about the future trusting that what is needed to fulfill the vision will emerge as they step out and take action (www.theclearing.com).

We are all looking at big changes within our industries and companies. The last year has created the need for new thinking. I think I am finally starting to realize that I don’t have to all the answers. I just have to be committed to the vision and taking the journey. So the next time I feel stumped by a problem I am going to pour myself a nice glass of Peju Estate Cabernet Franc Reserve and ask “What if and Why Not?” and trust in the journey that will follow.

Leadership by Inches, Seconds, and Degrees

This time of year is one of my favorites. For three weeks I am up before the sun to watch the Tour de France live. I even had the extreme luck to be in Paris in 1997 for the final stage of the tour. What a great party that was! What never ceases to amaze me is that even over almost 3 weeks of racing the leader of the race is often determined in more cases than not by seconds.

I started thinking more about this subject. Often the difference between winning and losing is the smallest of fractions. One degree difference turns hot water into boiling water. But how many times have I told myself that a little extra effort probably won’t be worth it, or noticeable, or matter in the end? Yet what really makes a champion a champion is that they consistently make that extra effort, and yes in the end, it does make a difference, even if it is just one degree, one second, or one centimeter.

I think this applies to business as well. I really loved Tony Hsieh’s book “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose ”. He had one key element for himself and all his employees. Make yourself 1% better each day. I was struck by the simplicity of this and that once again that continual small extra effort is what really leads one to stand out from the rest of the crowd. So I have decided that I don’t have to take on everything at 110%, I really just need to be consistent with that 1% change. In the end it will set me apart from the pack.

MARSHALL GOLDSMITH and FRANCES HESSELBEIN - A Discussion on Leadership

Thriving in the New Economy - WOMEN PRESIDENTS' ORGANIZATION - Annual Conference

EVENT: KEYNOTE ADDRESS – MARSHALL GOLDSMITH, best-selling author and Executive Coach and FRANCES HESSELBEIN, President and CEO of the Leader to Leader Institute / formerly the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, former CEO, the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. (1976-1990)
SPONSORED BY: Cisco

WOW! What an amazing opportunity to see these two together. They have such a real affection and respect for each other’s abilities. I came away with severl pearls of wisdom from such a seasoned and smart duo.

Some thoughts to ponder…

-          Live by example

-          Lead by example

-          Have personal humility and total respect for others – otherwise the rest does not matter

-          You must have trust

-          How our your treating the people around you?

-          Find solutions through respect

-          “Manage to the Mission” like our armed forces, you have to have a real passion for the mission. Clearly know the “why” and the “purpose”

-          Innovate or die – Innovation is the change that creates a new level of performance

-          We all have losses and sorrows – But we have to see these as opportunities to make a difference

-          Don’t waste energy you could be using to make a difference

-          Get your staff to your passion level

o   This should be your first mission

o   Talk about your passion/mission and live it

o   Respond with “That will further our mission” or “That is mission focused”

-          Remember – MISSION COMES FIRST!

WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON'T GET YOU THERE

Thriving in the New Economy - WOMEN PRESIDENTS' ORGANIZATION - Annual Conference

SPEAKER: Marshall Goldsmith, Best-selling author and Executive Coach
SPONSOR: IBM
DESCRIPTION: Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive, lasting change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams. In this fast-paced, interactive session, Dr. Goldsmith will describe classic challenges faced by successful leaders and how they can use ‘what to stop’ in personal development and coaching. Participants will practice feedforward – a positive, focused tool for development that has been successfully implemented by leaders around the world. He will then share a proven process for leadership development and coaching – along with published research involving over 86,000 respondents from eight major corporations. Finally, Marshall will have participants practice peer coaching and share exciting new research on how it can produce great results – at very low cost to the company. http://www.marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com/

I really enjoyed hear Dr. Goldsmith speak. He provided a lot of food for thought. Below are my notes from his session. It is hard to capture the try spirit of the session since much of it was interactive.
 -  #1 - You need to learn what to STOP doing!
 -  We all get stuck in our egos
 - Challenge is not theory but execution
 - Change happens when you follow up and really stick with it
 - The world becomes a better place when people "do"
 - Let others watch you develop
 - Peer coaching is a valuable tool
 - learn to be happy and reduce your feelings of guilt

Classic challenges when interacting with your staff
 - Try to win too much
 - Wanting too much value (no longer their idea) reduces their comfort of sharing with you
 - Passing judgment

As a leader - Remember
 - Your suggestions become orders
 - Before you speak - is the comment worth it? (even if you're are right?!)
 - Learn to say "Great idea!"
 - Take a deep breath and let it go
 - Help more, judge less, don't critique
 - Let go of the past
 - Learn
 - Help