ITLP Tuesday Readings

Today's Reading, "Go Ahead, Take That Break", comes from Whitney Johnson's HBR Blog. Johnson is a founding partner of Rose Park Advisors (Clayton M. Christensen's investment firm), and is author of the forthcoming book "Done-Dream-Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream."

Many studies have shown how important rest is to the human brain. Yet, work, better, life, is busier and more demanding everyday. Current neuroscience research has shown that the brain needs to fully disengage and relax after focusing intently on a problem. Brian Eno, English composer, musician, and record producer, puts it this way: "The difficulty of always feeling that you ought to be doing something is that you tend to undervalue the times when you are apparently doing nothing, and these are important times. It's the time when things get sorted out. If you are constantly awake work-wise you don't allow that to happen." John Cleese, English actor, writer, and film producer says it this way: "If you are racing around all day, ticking off lists, looking at your watch, making phone calls, and generally just keeping balls in the air, you are not going to have any creative ideas."

When we do nothing - take a walk, a long shower, sit outside and enjoy nature's beauty, take an unscheduled nap, ..., we defy the "always on" mindset. By doing nothing, we give rest to our brain which in turn reinvigorates life and work and allows us to get things done.

And, when we take some real down-time, without technology or a to-do list directing our every moment, we give our staff permission to do the same thing. And, that's a good thing!

Johnson ends her piece: "What we think and do today makes meaning of what we did yesterday. Learn to lie dormant. Listen to your cadence of rest. Take a break. Only after a break can you have a breakthrough."

Be intentional. Take regular breaks to reinvigorate your body and your brain.

. . . . jim

Posted by Jim Hall at 9:50 AM | Permalink

I thought these two quotes complemented each other:

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." ~ Michelangelo Buonarroti

What has kept you from achieving your goals in the past? Do you set clear goals that are a stretch? 6 months? Yearly? 5 Years? Make a list of what you would like to achieve, without thinking about why you can't achieve it.

"To reach a port, we must sail - sail, not tie at anchor - sail, not drift." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Are your goals clear and specific so you will know when you achieve them? What actions can you take today, next week, next month to move you forward toward your goals? What actions can you take to address the barriers that hold you back? Action is the only way to get where you want to go.

Posted by Jim Hall at 3:36 PM | Permalink

Today's reading is a short piece by Jeff Haden, "One Small Step for You - One Giant Leap for Employees". Haden learned much of what he knows about management as he worked his way up the printing business from forklift driver to manager of a 250-employee book plant. The rest he picked up from ghost writing books for some of the smartest CEOs he knows in business.

In the article, Hayden provides two short personal stories of bosses he has had congratulating him on his work.

Take a moment to read the piece and then stop and reflect on how you praise your staff. If it's not already your practice when you praise employees, make the effort to go where they work, congratulate them in front of their peers, let everyone see that whatever they accomplished is worthy of recognition. You likely have some people who worked really hard this summer getting ready for the fall whom you need to praise for their work. This will give you opportunities to practice this new skill.

Have a great week. . . . jim

Posted by Jim Hall at 12:11 PM | Permalink

"The more reasons you have for achieving your goal, the more determined you will become." ~ Brian Tracy

Have you wanted something so bad that you made sure you obtained it? Do you focus on the benefits of achieving a goal, or focus on the work it takes to get there? One is a driver, the other a weight.

What has kept you from obtaining your goals in the past? List them and figure out how to move past those barriers.

What would you like to achieve in the next year? Write all of the benefits that each goal will bring to you and your actions to getting there. Then.... just do it!!! It will never happen without action.

Posted by Jim Hall at 10:41 AM | Permalink

Today's Reading "Why Leaders Play Chicken" comes to us via the HBR Blog Network and is from the pen of Ron Ashkenas. Ashkenas is managing partner of Schaffer Consulting and author of the recent book, Simply Effective.

In this piece, Ashkenas reminds us of the game of chicken that most of us played when we were children. It was a foolish, immature way of showing who had the most guts, the most nerve, and the most will-power. And, the winner became the respected dominant leader of the group.

Unfortunately, we did not abandon this game when we moved from childhood to adulthood. We continue to see it played out in both private and public circles, always diminishing leadership and leading to sub-optimal solutions. The author says this bluntly. "Without a spirit of compromise and willingness to engage in collaborative dialogue, it is difficult for leaders and their teams to explore the full range of options and to be creative about alternate approaches. Instead of innovative solutions, we end up with negotiated bargains that often just defer many of the tough disagreements until some unidentified time in the future."

And, he isn't just talking about what has been going on in Washington for the past few weeks. We have to look no further than our own teams, our organization, our campus to find the game of chicken being played with enthusiasm and energy.

So, when you find yourself getting ready to play this game, stop, take a deep breath, and engage in some open and creative problem solving.

. . . . jim

Posted by Jim Hall at 9:43 AM | Permalink

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are." ~ John Wooden

Do you have regrets? What could you have done different? Do you always do "the right thing" regardless of what someone else wants or thinks?

How would you think other's would describe your character? Is it what you want to portray? Make a list of the character traits you would like to have and make a practice of them.

Posted by Jim Hall at 10:20 AM | Permalink

Today's reading is the Schumpeter column "Too much information", from the July 2, 2011 issue of The Economist.

The column notes that "information overload is one of the biggest irritations of modern life." The author goes on to note that the "data fog" is thickening at the time when workers are compelled to take on additional tasks. Many don't see this situation changing even when the economy improves.

The result is three big worries:

1. Information overload makes people feel anxious and powerless. Research has found that multitaskers produce more stress hormones than do non multitaskers.

2. Overloads can reduce creativity. Teresa Amabile, whose research studied the work habits of more than 9000 people, has found that focus and creativity are related - people are more likely to be creative if they focus on their work without interruption.

3. Information overload can also make workers less productive. David Meyer's research at the University of Michigan has shown that people who complete tasks in parallel take longer and make more errors than people who complete tasks in sequence.

Given this, what can you do? One answer is that technology will eventually provide some remedy. But, not yet. The second answer is your willpower. Put simply and succinctly, turn it off. Ration your input. Schedule times when you are off the net so you can focus on a specific task; limit times when you check email; don't use technology designed for immediate response - e.g., messaging, twitter, ... - when an immediate response is not required.

So, instead of complaining about the cacophony, start taming your beast now.

Have a great week. . . . jim

Schumpeter is an anonymous Economist consultant, Schumpeter, who generally writes on individuals and ideas behind the latest trends in business and management. (Presumably the pseudonym refers to Joseph Schumpeter [1883-1950], an Austrian economist and political scientist who popularized the term "creative destruction" in economics.)

Posted by Jim Hall at 9:11 AM | Permalink

Yesterday, Dave Logan's column "Leadership Lessons from the Debt Deal Fiasco" appeared in the BNET newsletter. Given the timeliness of the subject, I wanted to share the column and its lesson with you. Logan is a faculty member in USC's Marshall School of Business. He teaches leadership and management. In addition, he's a Senior Partner in CultureSync, a management consulting firm he co-founded in 1997, and author of four books including "Tribal Leadership."

Logan begins the piece with "What's happening in Washington is a perfect opportunity to learn the most important rule about leadership: 'Leaders listen first, and listen for a solution that takes everyone's interests into account. And, only then do they speak.'"

He goes on to characterize the recent activities in Washington as a drunken party. People talk, stop talking, and then each tells the world why the other is wrong. As I think about it, this behavior is not limited to Washington. It's also prevalent in our leadership circles as well.

From Logan's point of view, when you are trying to work out a contentious issue, you should:

1. Listen with a very unique kind of listening; you listen for intentions, aspirations, and fears; you listen for how things "occur" to the other person. The goal is to see the inner workings of the other's mind so clearly that their actions make sense to you. You may not agree with them, but you do see the situation as they see it.

2. Listen for solutions that take all the concerns into account. Focus on alignment not agreement and show that you fully understand the concerns.

Logan raises the point that this may sound like impossible fiction. However, it does happen. As an example, he points out that some of our major governing documents - the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the U. S. Constitution - came out of groups working in just this way.

He concludes: "Before the age of the 24/7 news cycle, people were willing to listen, reflect, and understand." Whether we are driven by the 24/7 news cycle or not, we are driven by a technology that enables, even encourages, us to respond very rapidly. Perhaps though, it is time for us to work on the skills of listening, reflecting, and understanding and do so before we respond.

We are not likely to be engaged with issues as momentous as the national debt limit. Yet, listening in this way can make a significant difference. Just as Logan suggests, listening in this way leads us to form "tribes" across different points of view, align on bigger solutions, and get things done.

Try listening this way the next time you find yourself confronting a difficult issue.

. . . . jim

Posted by Jim Hall at 9:33 AM | Permalink