Recently, the ownership of one of our client companies changed. With the ownership change, came a core strategy change. Initially, the team was filled with excitement about having new access to working capital and new customers. The executive team knew the shift was coming - half the team was already making adjustments, but the top leader was inexplicably cautious and quiet.
We have lots of time for it, if we seize the day. Exercising or sitting at stoplights. Waiting for an Uber or an airplane. In a quiet place like a church, awake in the middle of the night, or the sanctuary of nature. All of these moments are an excellent opportunity for intentional reflection or meditation. Just as fruits and vegetables are good for your diet, quiet time alone to reflect and re-set is good for leadership. One of the most popular personal development tools we use at Good Leadership Enterprises is:
Last week, we helped a prominent national development company produce a leadership alignment retreat. The purpose was to involve the 41 members of the senior leadership team in making choices about their 2025 strategic plan. After reading the How Goodness Pays book written by Paul Hillen and myself, the CEO deliberately opened up the planning process, with the idea of improving leadership and employee engagement. The starting point for the work is the idea from the How Goodness Pays research:
Today's blog post is about the power of mentorship, and how visionary leadership is shaping our future together. In this story I am the receiver of the mentoring (mentee), the mentor is my friend J. Allen, the Founder and CEO of Masters Alliance. J. is one of the people in my life that I want to be when I grow up! As one of the earliest sponsors of the Good Leadership Breakfast, he came to me with a command in 2015. "We have to create a special breakfast for the purpose of encouraging young leaders." I listened, and asked for his help. Here's how that is shaping our future:
Leadership guru Brene Brown often repeats this quip: Clear is kind - unclear is unkind. Since the day we committed to researching and promoting the idea "goodness pays," I have been encouraging the speakers at the Good Leadership Breakfast to share their perspective on this idea. And, in the speaker follow-up interview, I've been asking this question: Will you please share with us a specific moment from your career, when you knew for sure goodness pays in your leadership?
At the conclusion of the 2019 Fall Good Leadership Breakfast Series, we will have completed 10 years of programming. So naturally, I was searching with eagerness to find just the right speaker for the 80th meeting, November 15. Today, there is no more mystery
Patience has never been one of my strengths. Last Friday, our speaker at the Good Leadership Breakfast said something that arrested my attention. He described himself as "profoundly impatient." In context, Phil McKoy of UnitedHealthcare, explained to more than 250 guests how being "profoundly impatient" works both for him, and against him in his leadership.
This Friday is the last meeting of the 2019 Spring Series of the Good Leadership Breakfast. With the help of our speaker Phil McKoy of UnitedHealthcare, our team will have completed our 76th meeting over 9 1/2 years. Our team can still see and feel positive momentum in our breakfast series. Here are signs the momentum is still growing:
One of the questions I use repeatedly in interviewing Good Leadership Breakfast speakers is, "Who were your role models for good leadership, and the idea that goodness pays?" Our speaker for next week - Phil McKoy, the CIO at UnitedHealthcare - didn't skip a beat in delivering an energetic and inspiring answer, "I have to say that I have two people that come to mind, and one is someone I've never met."
On Easter Sunday two days ago, I heard a beautiful message about the importance of dreaming. Dreamers are people who see things others don't see. The skeptic says: "I will believe it when I see it." The dreamer says: "I will see it when I believe it!" Dreamers are people who transform organizations and industries. They also disrupt organizations and industries. For dreamers the disruption is fun and exciting. For the people who don't see the dream, or feel the excitement, they feel disrupted. And that's not much fun.