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Leadership

Why What Millennials Want is Exactly What We Need

A lot of energy is being spent on the topic of how to manage Millennials. There is angst as they come in and expect a different workplace – one that works for them as well as their employers. There is eye-rolling as their older workplace peers snicker a bit and wonder how they can be so naive, self-centered, and immature. There is a whole lot of “things don’t work that way here” going on.

As with all generalizations, they hold some truth in the macro sense, while exceptions abound when looking at a population case-by-case. Nonetheless, trends across this age demographic are evident. A recent INC article, called the Quick Guide to Motivating Millennials, points to six things that this younger, tech-savvy generation are looking for in their work. And I am struck by the degree of alignment between this list and what research is showing us about emerging highly performing organizations. …

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.

Leadership

Leaders as Creators

An artist looks at their work in a totally different frame of mind than does a mechanic. The artist sees infinite possibility. The mechanic sees a problem to be solved. The artist has a vision. The mechanic has a job. The artist works in iterations, continuing to add to the creation what is needed. The mechanic works by elimination, until the source of the dysfunction is found. The artist creates, the mechanic fixes.
As a leader, you are often in the “mechanic mode”. People bring you problems to be solved, work to be done, decisions to be made, dilemmas to be fixed. And that is a valuable and ever-present part of the role you play.

But how often do you play the role of creator?

Leadership

Why is Caring the Exception?

Gallop just released the results of a study with Purdue, measuring the degree to which graduates have “great jobs,” through successful and engaging careers, and are leading “great lives,” by thriving in their overall well-being. They distilled their findings into six key college experiences that contributed greatly to well-being. Yet few college graduates that Gallup studied achieve the winning combination. What were the six key college experiences, and what can we do to help them achieve them more often?

Leadership

The Triple Bottom Line and Sustainable Organizations

In my next few posts I am going to explore the question of sustainability – of our organizations and the larger world in which those organizations exist. The topic is big – and this will only be a brush. But I hope that these posts might give you pause to ponder – what should we be doing to create vibrant organizations that are sustainable over time – not via brute force or domination but through the synergy of being in tune with their external environment, honoring that environment (both social and environmental) and existing in a harmonious ecosystem of give and take, change and adaptation, growth, decline, and rebirth.

Today’s post is about a way to measure sustainability using a framework called the Triple Bottom Line. Subsequent posts will examine the internal factors that enable an organization to be sustainable over time, and then the notion of “constructive capitalism”, a way in which companies can create enduring, meaningful and sustainable advantage that also benefits society.

So… about that Triple Bottom Line…

Can you be too Lean?

I am writing this post in the aftermath of a weekend getaway gone awry. The plan was simple – leave very early on Saturday morning, arrive at our favorite beach by 11, enjoy the island and friends and great seafood. And then out the next night- back in time to resume work on Monday.

Instead, I am at home… not at the beach.

Leadership

Leadership as an Amateur Sport

In almost all instances, success precedes promotion. And for most of us, we say yes because we feel, at some level, confident in our ability to tackle the new role in a proficient manner. And then we land the new job, take on the additional responsibility, strike out into new territory. And all that we knew in our last job is suddenly not enough.

As leaders are faced with this reality, they have two basic choices…

What Do Leaders DO All Day Long?

They may not have specific tasks or deliverables. They may have a nicer office, an assistant and a group of people at their bidding. There is no production board, no productivity targets, no product stacked neatly on a skid at the end of a day. We all scratch our heads sometime. What does a leader do?

End of the Week Coaching Questions

At the conclusion of your work week, reflecting on a provocative question can help you learn, plan, adjust and generally, just get better. I encourage you to pick one of these per week to ponder and see what happens as a result. Writing thoughts is highly encouraged – but optional.

Intention

The 1% Question

I’ve just spent two days in Rocky Mountain National Park. What totally shocked me was this statistic.

Evergreen Leadership Blog

Why What Millennials Want is Exactly What We Need

Why Your Zone of Discomfort is the Perfect Place to Be

Leaders as Creators

Why is Caring the Exception?

The Triple Bottom Line and Sustainable Organizations

Can you be too Lean?

Leadership as an Amateur Sport

What Do Leaders DO All Day Long?

End of the Week Coaching Questions

The 1% Question

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