Blog - Page 17 of 38 - Evergreen Leadership

Intention

What’s Value Congruence Got to Do with It?

Think about these three retailers: WALMART, KMART, and TARGET. All discount department stores. All ones that you have likely shopped in at some point. Now, see if you can match the company values with the retailer.

Retailer A

Great shopping, anytime, anywhere
Celebrating diversity and inclusion
Design for all
Community support and engagement
A fun and rewarding place to work

Retailer B

Creating lasting relationships with customers by empowering them to manage their lives
Attaining best in class productivity and efficiency
Building our brands
Reinventing the company continuously through technology and innovation

Retailer C

Service to our customers
Respect for the individual
Strive for excellence
Act with integrity

Read on to find the answers… and to explore what value congruence has to do with profitability.

Intention

Barbie Shoes and the Vacuum Cleaner

As my children were growing up, Saturday was “clean the house” day. Everyone participated, no matter their age. For my daughter, Nicole, at age six it meant that toys and clutter had to move off the floor and into their designated storage places so that the vacuum could be run.

In spite of knowing this, the floor would often be strewn with Barbie shoes on Saturday morning. After reminders that escalated to nagging and warnings, there was one thing that was certain to create an immediate surge of frantic activity to put the shoes away. And that was the sound of the vacuum cleaner headed to her room.

Now Nicole was not a naughty or unruly child. She just has at least one thousand things better to do than to pick up Barbie shoes. Until the roar of the vacuum sent a clear message: Run now to save the shoes!

Not unlike most of us. We have many things to do. We aren’t bad or lazy; perhaps distracted and overwhelmed. So the leadership question becomes this: WHAT CAN WE DO TO SPUR FOCUS AND ATTENTION ON THE THINGS THAT ARE MOST IMPORTANT?

Change

Why Your Zone of Discomfort is the Perfect Place to Be

Ahhhh… how comfy our comfort zones are. We know these places so well. We can be on autopilot. We don’t have to expend emotional or physical energy. It’s easy. It’s like riding a bike downhill – all the time.

Ultimately, however, our comfort zones can be our undoing. Too much time there are we become stale, unchallenged, and stagnant. And that is a dangerous place to be in a world in which maintaining the status quo becomes obsolete in the blink of an eye.

Dynamics

Swagger

In my executive coaching I see plenty of folks plagued with this problem: They are smart. They have deep expertise in their field. They are competitive and are on the hunt for the next promotion. And they have an almost uncontrollable need to prove just how brilliant they are. Unfortunately, these actions work against them. Even when they are smart and capable and driven.

Leadership

What Organizations are Unlearning

WARNING: If you love bureaucracy, you’ll hate this post. If your life is consumed with climbing the corporate ladder, this post will give you a splitting headache. If you are in what is considered a “safe” occupation (HR/accounting/law) – be prepared to be unnerved.

This is a follow-up to my post about unlearning. Here, you’ll learn what you might need to unlearn about how organizations operate and the work done within them. The content of this post draws both on my personal experience with a variety of organizations I work with, and the work of Frederic Laloux and his book, Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness.

Learning

The Skill of Unlearning

I am writing this post from southern California – where in the midst of a 4 year drought, residents are unlearning that green lawns are good, water is unlimited and abundant, and irrigation can enable non-local plants to grow. They are filling that space with the learning that water is precious and scarce, that native plants are well suited for the local ecosystem and are drought hardy, and they have a beauty as well.

What (else) might we need to unlearn, and how does one unlearn? I’ll explain…

Challenges

The Need to Read: 5 Tips to Read More, Better, Faster

Today’s post is written for both avid readers and those averse to reading. These tips will help those with towering stacks of books just waiting to be read sort out the “must read” from the “should toss”. And for those infrequent readers, the first three tips will allow you to spend minimal time with maximum payoff.

Challenges

A Third Way to Make Decisions

I’ve been the victim of disastrous decisions made from “on high” – well-meaning corporate types who had no idea how their dictates impacted operations at the local level. And not all were disastrous, but many were ill-conceived, not very practical, or at times, bewildering and laughable.

I’ve also been the corporate type – struggling to make one decision that served many, being blind to the specific nuances and awed by the complexity of implanting something across large global organizations.

And too, I’ve suffered through my fair share of mind-numbing meetings attempting to get to consensus. And been a part of way too many projects that were stalled as key decisions were held hostage to the notion that a consensus must be reached.

I’ve also led my fair share of meetings trying to get to consensus. Often successful if the issue was minor or the culture was compliant. Often frustrated if the issue was major or the culture was one that pushed back.

And no matter whether leading decisions, or participating in consensus decision making, often experiencing decisions that were watered down or awkwardly cobbled together or crafted to the least common denominator.

And so I cheered as I read Fredric Laloux’s new book, Reinventing Organizations, where he described a third way of organizational decision making – the advice process.

Leadership

Strategic Storytelling for Business

The notion of telling stories in business is at times a bit suspect – as if telling a story was the same as spreading a falsehood. Or perhaps a bit too frivolous for the “serious” nature of the work we do. Or a bit too theatrical, pushing us well outside our comfort zone.

Doug Stevenson, founder and chief story teller at Story Theater International (and his amazing side-kick and muse, Deborah Merriman) have cracked the code on “strategic storytelling” for business. I had the wonderful opportunity to join three others in a retreat at Doug’s studio recently.

Doug draws heavily on his acting training and Hollywood experience to bring “the magic of storytelling” into a business setting. He breaks down the essential elements of story and teaches how to craft a compelling tale that captures attention and sticks with you for a very long time. Most importantly, he instructs business people in how to make their point using story. For storytelling in business is more than just spinning a good yarn or telling a story to get a few yucks. Much more than that.

Intention

My Wabi-Sabi Life

I’ve worked hard to overcome “the prison of perfection” – which had, in the past, resulted in me never being happy with excellence, which had caused me to stall way too many times in quest of the last incremental improvement, that had stoked fear that someone would notice the slightest imperfection. And it was good to let go of that.

Wabi-sabi, as defined in Wikipedia, is a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. However, the notion of wabi-sabi is deeper than just being OK with imperfection. …

Evergreen Leadership Blog

What’s Value Congruence Got to Do with It?

Barbie Shoes and the Vacuum Cleaner

Why Your Zone of Discomfort is the Perfect Place to Be

Swagger

The Skill of Unlearning

The Need to Read: 5 Tips to Read More, Better, Faster

A Third Way to Make Decisions

Strategic Storytelling for Business

My Wabi-Sabi Life

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