Friday 15 July 2016

5 WAYS TO DEAL WITH JACKHOLINESS

Brilliant!   Thanks to Dan Rockwell.

Jackholes are part jackass, part asshole.
Nothing like learning from someone who knows less than you to kick your inner jackhole in the butt
No one is quite good enough for a jakehole.

Jackholes can’t tolerate:

  1. Mistakes. Others make all the mistakes in jackhole land.
  2. Falling short. Jackholes don’t fall short.
  3. Weakness. What’s that?
  4. Progress. Progress is irrelevant. Jackholes have already arrived. 
The trajedy of jackholiness is the inability to develop new leaders.
Intolerance disqualifies jackholes from leadership development.

3 Certainties:

Three things are certain, when no one is quite good enough to be a leader on your team. You’re overestimating your own hotness. Second, you have forgotten where you came from. Last, you’ve lost sight of you’re own jackholiness.

5 ways to deal with jackholiness:

There’s a whiff of jackholiness in all of us. Only a hardened jackhole would think otherwise.
When no one is ever good enough:
#1. Reflect on what you were like when you put your feet under the leadership table for the first time.
  1. Afraid.
  2. Insecure.
  3. Narrow.
  4. Arrogant.
  5. Clueless.
If I’m not mistaken, you’re still a bit in the dark.
#2. Remember all the people who helped you. Only the most deluded jackholes think they’re self-made.
#3. Recall your failures, not just lessons learned.
Reject the illusion that you were always this wise.  
#4. Live up to your own standards. Jackholes hold others accountable and exempt themselves. Do more than you expect others to do. Do the dirty work.
#5. Learn from people who aren’t good enough. Standing aloof limits your capacity to learn, grow, connect, and serve.
Nothing like learning – from someone who knows less than you – to kick your inner jackhole in the butt.
Bonus: Give trusted allies permission to point out your jackholiness when they see it. (In the moment, not later.) When was the last time you heard something that really stung?
The drift toward jackholiness destroys all who go there.

Sunday 3 July 2016

THE TOP 12 MISSED OPPORTUNITIES OF LEADERSHIP

I’m sure you’re rowing hard - But are you rowing like a leader?

long-term perspective often solves short-term frustration
In order to seize opportunities you must recognize them.

The top 12 missed opportunities of leadership:

  1. Eliminating ambiguity. Lean into confusion and frustration with openness and optimism.
  2. Hearing people’s stories. You can’t effectively lead people you don’t know. In order to inspire, you must know values and aspirations.
  3. Moving people from talk to practical behaviors. What are you going to do?
  4. Identifying and affirming behaviors that generate energy in others. What energizes team members? Enough with complaining all the time!
  5. Clarifying the short-term path forward. Where are we going this week, month, or quarter?
  6. Encouraging team members to reflect on satisfaction/disappointment in their work. What are they learning about themselves?
  7. Providing broader perspective to people lost in the weeds. Long-term perspective often solves short-term frustration.
  8. Eliminating antiquated rules, ineffective behaviors, and irrelevant programs.
  9. Inviting the elephant in the room to dance.
  10. Addressing nagging performance issues. Your team is waiting for you to speak up.
  11. Developing yourself. You still have far to go.
  12. Making *vision ubiquitous. You’re adrift until you clearly describe the destination.

The 5 powers of *vision:

Lewis Carroll wrote, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.
  1. Vision reveals opportunity. Opportunity for one is distraction to another. For example, eating in a fancy restaurant is distraction the night before an Olympic wrestling match.
  2. Vision defines forward movement.
  3. Vision enables tough decisions.
  4. Vision calls for commitment.
  5. Vision energizes endurance.
Decisions, apart from vision, are personal whim and organizational convenience.

3 opportunity tips:

  1. Opportunities emerge after you step forward. They don’t find you when you drifting.
  2. Choose a small opportunity if a big one isn’t available.
  3. Change something. Repeating the same behaviors in the same way yields more of the same.