FieldNotes
Our daily Field Notes email is just the kind of jumpstart you need. A fast read. Maybe less than a minute. Because sometimes it just takes one insight to change the trajectory of the day.
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Being in the Right Mode
You can always tell if a leader is in “knowing” or “learning” mode. Just look to the questions they ask — or the lack of them. When in knowing mode, leaders are the experts at directing traffic about what others should do about what they know to be true. Because they know, leaders in this
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Delayed Rewards Make Us Better People
Central to any worthy vision is the requirement to appreciate delayed gratification. Almost by definition, the vision a leader creates will require others to invest now in order to reap bigger rewards in the future. The problem is that people are not hardwired to value future pleasures as compared to immediate satisfaction. Postponing immediate gains
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Embrace Tension Not Balance
Balance in life is usually a good thing. We should all strive for balance, not allowing extremes to dictate our tactics and reactions. But the kind of dualities that leaders face every day calls for a better metaphor. When pivoting between agility and consistency, creativity and critical thinking, hands-on and hands-off approaches, among other pairs, the
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Be Wise to Hidden Advocacy
When making decisions with others, the best leaders are acutely aware of the many people who influence the discussion but are not physically present. In many cases, those in the background or absent can have a tremendous influence on what others believe and advocate. Here’s a decision-making fact: There is almost always someone at the table who
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Act Like Champions
Legendary football coach Bill Walsh gives us this gem: “Champions behave like champions before they’re champions. They have a winning standard of performance before they are winners.” It is exceedingly difficult to prioritize the idea of acting like a champion when you’re losing. With successive defeats, just about anything else is easier than behaving the
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Avoid Email Urgency Bias
The next time you send a colleague an email in the wee hours of the morning or in the middle of the weekend, consider the unintended message you are sending. Unbeknownst to most leaders, people who receive your off-hour emails interpret such messages as a directive to drop what they are doing and to respond
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Heroes (and Leaders) Don’t Wait to Act
When we think of heroes and heroism, images of extraordinary acts of selflessness to come mind. Big, bold acts resulting in amazing feats. Heroes inspire our imagination with their selfless devotion to others. Long after they are gone, heroes keep giving us something we desperately need — the courage to act to make people and
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Focus on Process
The undeniable truth that leaders and performers must accept is they don’t control outcomes, but they always control the process leading to the result. When a golfer declares their goal is to shoot 69, they are describing an outcome, not a goal. This detracts from performance because it focuses attention on the desired outcome and
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Evaluate Short-Term Demands
Leaders continually walk the tightrope between short-term demands and long-term goals. Rarely are the objectives of these two sets of goals aligned. Good leaders are required to find a balance between them, where neither side carries too much weight or sway over decision-making. This balancing act is often judged poorly by others, who become confused
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The Secret to Spotting the Leader
Picking out the leader in a large team is harder than ever before. In the past, leaders dressed just a little bit more formally than others, making this guess easier. But, in today’s world, that is no longer a tell. In fact, sometimes leaders will put themselves together more informally than everyone else. However, there is one