Transformation

Spring is a time in the Midwest when the word "transformation" can be seen in the truest sense all around you. Over night the ice scape of winter begins to fade and loses it's grip on the land. Soon water is flowing again, birds begin to call and the slight hint of spring green begins to push into the world from the ground up. Just to be outside to smell and feel spring becomes in itself a transformation to the mind, body and soul.

This morning I am speaking to a large group of insurance professionals in Minneapolis around the topic of transformation and how it relates to leadership. Although the word leadership itself can be tough to define I like adding the word "transformational" because of the power it brings.

Here's my definition:
Transformational Leadership calls for its leaders and their followers do what is good, right and necessary given the tasks, values and vision of the community.

This is not an easy definition to internalize and live. There is a selflessness and call to action that can be hard, scary yet quite possibly ground breaking to pursue. Are you interested to know how transformational you are? Click the link below to download a Transformational Leadership Assessment. Let me know what you think of your outcome.

http://www.ltfpro.com/connectivatenow/TranformLdrshpEvalFINAL2.pdf

I Apologize

"I Apologize, this was my responsibility and I did not handle it well. I will take care of it now" This is a statement we do not hear much. Many people work in a profession but may struggle at times to be a professional. A professional is one who would willingly accept a challenge and the potential failure without excuses, taking responsibility themselves.

Being willing to admit failure or a missed detail is a great first step. With failure or error accepted, you can now blow your boss, your team and your company away with potential solutions to the new opportunity everyone is facing.

You will find your team appreciates when you take responsibility. When you learn from failure, change patterns and find new solutions your team will rely on you. No excuses or "too busy, my bosses fault, I was up all night so..." A professional fights through, takes on the work and finishes with excellence.

An apology goes a long way.

Tripped Up

I had the pleasure of spending most of my week training and evaluating other professionals in Minneapolis. Playing a part in creating a learning environment and seeing life long learners pick up new skills is truly rewarding.

I personally did final evaluations with 16 people and most did a great job, took constructive criticism and received steps to work on to be even better. Being managers from around the country I have confidence that they will go back and spread the impact to hundreds of people.

Out of 16 people there were three that got tripped up. Tripped up by making excuses. Three people after not meeting the expectation in their presentation either blamed a lack of sleep, lack of prep time or not understanding the time limits of the event.

After quietly interrupting their excuses I asked them to explain to me as a professional how lack of sleep, lack of prep time or failure to understand the objective had anything to do with their poor performance?

To their credit, every single person confronted by the emphasized word professional stopped, re-thought their excuse and replied in like manner. Their excuse was no excuse for their poor preparation because as a professional there is a demand to rise to the occasion and produce great results no matter the situation.

Although this was not the specific outcome of the training for the week I feel that sometimes the learning that can take place after a trip up that is unplanned and unseen can be the most productive of all.

Being tripped up is never fun. What you learn in hind sight can sometimes allow you to be thankful for the lesson.

Magic Intro

Today we live in a world where many people are prone to have Disney expectations and Reality Show style. Even young children know when they are getting good service somewhere and we always expect the event, experience or destination to have the class, style and production quality of the best Disney resort. This is the way we live.

When living in this kind of high production culture the introduction you use or the meeting you run has the same expectations. Lets talk about your personal introduction.

Remember that you are not only competing with the other candidates but with the social norms of the culture. Make your introduction in a meeting or any other place something to remember.

Back at It

Traveled to Houston last week on business. Visited 5 of the Life Time Fitness clubs. Had a great time with the team down there. A great town with a great future for the company. Thanks Houston.

Blogging will now continue.

Bouldering in Sabino Canyon

Hiked Sabino Canyon in Tucson, AZ with my family today. The location has been a popular attraction for over 100 years. As a natural oasis the canyon has a running creek for most of the year and it is a great place to hike. In the 1800's a 6.5 earth quake shook the area causing boulders to cascade down from the canyon walls into the creek bed. The road to the top of Sabino and several of the famous bridges over the creek were were badly damaged.

The canyon people had known was changed forever. There were now house sized boulders strewn all across the landscape. The best picnic spots were gone and the routes down the canyon by way of the creek had changed forever. In fact I think that the way down the creek not only changed but became more difficult. 100+ years later on a bright 80 degree day my son and I decided to boulder our way down the creek to challenge ourselves to find the path and see what we could see. 3+ miles, 2 toads, 10 geckos, 75+ fish and a slew of birds later we came out back on the road having successfully found a dry way down the creek jumping boulder to boulder not being able to imagine the creek any other way. Bouldering is what we wanted to do and it was awesome.

What caused devastation a century ago is considered normal now. The earthquake is still worth mentioning but it is simply a footnote to give the canyon context today. My son and I were better men having the canyon what it is. To boulder, we had to watch our feet, help each other, consider different routes, hit dead ends and back track and stop and see the wonders around us. As I said good night to my son his best memory of the day was "bouldering with you Dad." That was great.

We live in a world hit by an economic earthquake. The way through this canyon has changed and may have just got harder. Here's what I say, "Life finds a way and we should trust the process." In a 100 years this era will simply be a footnote to give the new world it helps create context. I am not going to be buried in the rubble, I'm already taking up a new way of thinking. I'm learning how to boulder. Maybe you should learn to boulder too.

Fun after Work

I work or a business and with a team that loves to contribute, solve problems and spend the hours working together to do both. Taking time to have fun and take some time away is a hard fought luxury. Many people on my team have been away in the last few weeks. I am away right now and only a day in having a great time. I would expect that I will come back not only rested but full of energy with renewed creativity to continue to contribute to a business I believe in. After this fun. I'll go back to work.

Burn the Ships

There is a story about the Spanish explorer Cortes that has always intrigued me. Cortes and his 700 men had a difficult crossing of the Atlantic to reach the new world. By the time they had arrived in Mexico his men were in a bad place and longing for home.

Cortes had other plans. He ordered the men to take all the supplies off the 11 ships and then he set them one fire. The men ran to Cortes looking for orders, they were sure they had been attacked. The men were beside themselves. Finally Cortes stands up and says, "I burned the ships, we are here to stay." He knew that the ships presented an option to go back and not go forward. Cortes also knew that the men would be more highly motivated to succeed in the mission if going forward was their only option.

Great story of challenge as we move forward in this economy, in our jobs, hunting for a job or bettering our skills through education. Burn the ships and make your success on your new adventure the only way through.

Lighthouse or Siren Part 2

In Greek mythology the siren is a beautiful water nymph that sang such a captivating song with such an allure that no man could withstand the urge to to follow the song even into great peril and ruin. In fact the siren singer positioned herself in shallow water against the rocks of an island and when lured there the ship and sailor would be wrecked and thrown into the water. The siren had the “Intent” to ruin those who heard her song.

A Siren Goal works in the same way. A Siren Goal is an emotional based objective in your life that leads you to miss opportunities and eventually leads to ruin. As a professional we all have to set goals. We must be cautious that our goals are set with accountability and we are willing to be objective about them. A Siren Goal occurs when we loose all reason and follow emotion to an outcome. In fact the sirens in mythology played to the heart of a man not to his physical desires. Goals can be tricky when emotionally we have our heart set on something that we want. A siren goal is a goal that is set with emotion, does not clearly listen to advice from others and may be a goal that has been outpaced or is not obtainable from where you are yet you are not willing to recalibrate your expectations. The most dangerous part of a siren goal is that the goal itself blinds you from seeing and reaching for other goals that would move you forward and create success.

Example: I met a great guy once who told me his story about his siren goal. In his younger years he had been a baseball phenom. He set his goal to be a pro baseball player and started on that path. The goal at that point was a "Lighthouse Goal" (see 3/31/09 blog) He was drafted and progressed through the farm division. In that process he developed a significant negative and selfish attitude and finally through many injuries his body gave out and he could not compete. His goal of being a pro baseball player was over. In spite of that he did not give up the goal, the emotional desire to be a pro baseball player remained. At that moment not letting go of the old goal and setting a new one sent him into a tail spin that took him a divorce, financial crisis and years to overcome. The siren goal kept calling him to his ruin. He could not see that even though reality had changed. He had become addicted to the turmoil of the water around his Siren Goal and often shunned the calm water of a safe harbor. Eventually after a great soul searching time this young guy was able to re-order his private world and set new goals that introduced him back to life.

To those who are living with siren goals the call to your ruin feels like a call to safety. You can almost feel as though it is a lighthouse. This is just not the case. If you are concerned that you are living under a siren goal ask yourself these questions:

1. Is a trusted advisory giving me feedback about my goals that I get enraged or intolerant over and will not listen?
2. Are the professional managers in my work aligned around their perspective of me yet I do not agree with them at all?

3. Do I feel like my organization “owes” me something?
4. Have I grown accustom to the “chaos” of siren goals around me and will not listen to my own reason or the reason of others?

If you are a “yes” to more then 1 of these questions you may need to sit down with someone you trust and try to break through to a new perspective. In the ancient Greek stories sailors could only hope to escape the siren and their own ruin by tying themselves to the mast of their ship, plugging their ears with wax and turning their heads away. You may find that you need to do the same to an old goal that is destroying the opportunities right in front of you. Turning away from an old goal will face you in a new direction and new opportunities. No to sirens, yes to the lighthouse!