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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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…
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Flag Intent
Much of the meaning we ascribe to others comes down to how we read their intentions. We judge what is happening and what significance it carries by assessing the intentions we believe others hold. Reading these intentions of others allows us to make quick sense of what they are saying and doing without the need…
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The One Question for All Leaders
If your leadership came down to one question, what would that question be? As a leader, what is the most important question you could ask of anyone in your leadership world? A servant leader might ask, “How can I help?” A field general might ask, “What should I know?” A hands-on leader might ask, “Where…
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Not Winging It Looks Like This
We can’t say that NFL rookie head coach Nick Sirianni will go down as one of the game’s greats. Heaven knows, football at the professional level is a unique challenge for coaches and players alike, and few survive the experience with accolades. But one thing we do know is that Sirianni never wings it when…