Admired leadership Connecting to Admired Leadership Session With John Cook “Leaders That Drive Both Performance and Followership” February 23, 2024 Schedule some time with Wes to discuss specific needs for you and your team.
Admired leadership Connecting to Admired Leadership With Wes Bender and Carolynne Thomas“How admired leaders communicate honestly in times of uncertainty” May 7, 2024 Schedule some time with Wes to discuss specific needs for you and your team.
On every team, there are thinkers and doers. Thinkers like to contemplate problems and issues and devise strategies to address them. While thinkers are not without initiative or action, they prefer thought partners over accountability buddies. They take steps cautiously and deliberately.
Doers, on the other hand, like to get things done. They don’t bypass strategy, but they prefer action over contemplation. They move quickly to execute an action plan and measure themselves by what they achieve in the short term.
The best decision-makers identify their key beliefs and give them a probability of certainty. They then explore the underlying reasons and assumptions they depend on to make such a guess. That is what it means to think in bets. Are you 50 percent likely to begin assigning probabilities to your critical beliefs when making a major decision? How come? Now, you’re thinking in bets.
Throughout his twenty-five years working as a journalist for outlets such as Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports, Seth Davis has watched and analyzed some of the best coaches in sports. Through the observation of their games and practices as well as the conduction of private interviews, Davis sought answers to not only how, but why coaches go about their jobs in the ways that they do. Despite the variety of life experiences and coaching methods, the coaches examined in this book share four personal traits in common, which Davis calls the “PEAK profile.” These traits hold the key to uniting a team as one and therefore achieving optimal success.
This book delves into the triumphs and failures of nine present-day coaches on their journeys to excellence. The diversity of personalities and coaching methods highlighted throughout the book demonstrate how there is no single formula for achieving greatness. No matter what one’s leadership style may be, there is much to learn from the experiences and philosophies of these prominent coaches. This book provides valuable insight into the minds of leaders who exhibit resilience in the face of adversity, practice consistency in their individual techniques, and model noble leadership to their players.
Everything You Own Owns a Piece of You, Too.
This is true for taking on a new leadership role, as well. When we agree to the responsibilities and commitments required in an elevated position, we invariably “own” the role as if it were a tangible thing.
Owning a role is quite common for those who aspire to create excellence, and it comes with the same consequences as owning a house or a boat. It takes an enormous amount of time, energy, and creativity to excel at leading others.
The fact that what we own also owns us is not a reason to jettison our investments or decline an important purchase. But knowing this reality before we make a significant purchase or commitment is a smart call. Ask yourself if the time, energy, and resources required to give the purchase or commitment the attention it deserves makes sense. Or will you feel trapped by those things you own, beholden in a way that redirects your life in a negative way.
Delay During Performance Allows Negative Pressure to Build.
So, the next time you experience a delay that interrupts performance, consider the power of distraction to avoid the negative effects of pressure. As pressure builds during a delay, finding a release through distraction is a much better strategy than overthinking what is to come. Thinking about execution is a great way to sabotage execution.
Sometimes, bad advice won’t die.
Take the case of the Sandwich Technique of giving feedback. It is an ineffective method that has traveled around the world. Seemingly every leader knows it.
We can summarize the Sandwich Method like this: When giving feedback, leaders start by saying something positive. Then, they give the receiver the real meat of criticism or negative feedback. Finally, they conclude by saying something positive or affirming.
The logic is that the bookends of positive statements buffer any negative reaction to the criticism. Leaders erroneously believe it makes the criticism more palatable and easier to swallow.
But people aren’t nearly as gullible as some leaders hope them to be. In many organizations, the technique is known as a Crap Sandwich because everyone knows that the center of the sandwich tastes like rubbish.
Expertly Introducing a Speaker
Good introducers don’t get cute, tell embarrassing stories about the presenter, or do anything that will detract from the presentation. Instead, they ask themselves what information they might share that will make the speaker more believable and their remarks more valuable.
Priming an audience to learn and appreciate what a speaker can offer begins with the introduction. It is often taken for granted or overlooked, creating a context that encourages full participation.
Introductions matter. Treat them as stage-setting devices that allow presentations to sing. Everyone benefits when you do.
Take a hard look at the top handful of vendors, suppliers, and partners who are heavily relied upon in your organization. Do they smartly reflect your organization’s values? Are they best of class regarding quality and performance? Don’t leave such an assessment to others. They have been rewarded to negotiate the best price for far too long, and often miss the forest for the trees. Take on this assignment personally and see what you learn. Remember this: the cost of success is far cheaper than the price of misalignment and failure.
Solving for low performance is an ongoing challenge every leader faces.
Team members with weak performance often prevent the team from reaching its desired goals and achieving what it is capable of. Good leaders keep a sharp eye on performance metrics, team conversations, and third-party feedback to ascertain if a problem exists.
Getting ahead of subpar performance and addressing it before it spirals into a consistent negative pattern is a critical slice of effective leadership. The best leaders craft a plan to address poor performance as soon as it rears its head. They guard against allowing poor performance to gain any foothold that might undermine long-term success.
The culture of an organization or team is shaped by the values that leaders hold and the everyday practices that represent those values. From those values, good leaders are able to establish standards of quality, expectations for performance, and competencies that support personal and professional growth. As organizations bring on new team members, leaders face the challenge of aligning everyone to the values and inculcating the culture they are trying to build. People are busy, and lofty ideas about
As technology advances in the workplace, so do opportunities of success for those who lead through persuasive communication. Advisor, speaker, and author, Carmine Gallo is best known for his expertise in transformative communication. He shares why “mastering the ancient art of persuasion – combining words and ideas to move people into action – is no longer a ‘soft’ skill [but rather] it is a fundamental skill to get from good to great in the age of ideas” (p. 3). Expanding on Aristotle’s notion that effective communication can unlock human potential, Gallo acknowledges both historical and contemporary orators for their impactful contributions to the craft. Readers are reminded that with enough perseverance, we can all unlock the gift and potential to move and excite people, igniting their imagination. By sharing stories, the latest research, and techniques from five-star leaders, entrepreneurs, professionals, and brands who occupy and stand out in their own universe, Gallo equips the reader with the tips and tricks that can make any individual a five-star communicator. For when words are thoughtfully and artfully communicated, they can be powerful enough to unite people into democracy, put a man on the moon, and create artificial technologies to better the world.
You can’t accept who you are right now and grow at the same time. Or, as former IBM Ceo Ginni Rometty liked to say, “Growth and comfort never coexist.”
In order to grow and develop as a person and leader, stepping outside of what is most comfortable is a requirement. To develop and grow, leaders must seek out challenges, reject the familiar, and accept new experiences and the uncertainty they carry.