Leadership | It's Worth Noting

Feeling overwhelmed with tasks? Here’s a 15 min solution.

December 9, 2011

Feeling overwhelmed, anxious or stressed about all your tasks at work or home? A simple and surprisingly therapeutic solution is to take a few moments and write everything down. I promise it’ll be worth the 15 minutes. Grab a blank sheet of paper or find an empty whiteboard. Write down all the words or phrases on your mind. Write until you exhaust what’s on your mind, until you feel a release of stress and anxiety After you get everything written down, you can focus on the underlying problem: lack of prioritization and awareness of deadlines. Now you can create a plan to handle all the tasks instead of being overwhelmed by them! Find three different color markers and start circling words or phrases based on whether they are of high, medium or low priority. When you finish prioritizing, put dates on items that have hard deadlines. When you’re done, go ahead and start working…

Leadership Productivity

Buying into lies about running late

January 4, 2012

First off, let me be upfront that I’m often guilty of running late, so what I share here comes from self evaluation. I have committed to solving the problem because as you’ll see below, nothing good comes of running late. I hope my observations about lies I bought into over the years will help you, or someone you share this post with, resolve to be prompt instead of making others suffer the consequences of running late. Perception is reality in this arena. If you have a reputation for running late, it’s because it’s well deserved. Self-denial will not help you get better. Failure to be prompt is disrespectful and communicates that your time is more valuable than someone else’s. Your time is not more valuable that someone else’s whom you’ve made a commitment to. Failure to plan for traffic, know how to get where you’re going, plan on time to…

Leadership

That’s why we mow the grass

December 23, 2011

I grew up on a large cattle ranch. We raised Registered Brangus. The best cattle were sold for 10’s of thousands of dollars to ranchers looking to improve the genetics of their herds. The ranch was a mix of iconic cattle wrangling and sophisticated lab work, which melded together to produce the best bulls and cows possible. I worked on the ranch during the summers. Two days a week all I did was mow. I mowed acres and acres of grass. I mowed miles and miles of road edges. I’d finish those two days covered in grass clippings with a lingering hum in my ears. One day I asked my dad why we spent so much time mowing grass: “When people come to the ranch, they see how attentive we are to the grass. They assume that if we take that good a care of the grass, we must take…

Leadership

What can you teach me?

January 21, 2012

About two years ago, I asked a new friend of mine to join me for lunch. I had just celebrated my daughter’s first birthday. Gene Ellerbee had just celebrated his 70th birthday. I was upfront about why I wanted to get together: Gene was the father of five daughters. In his more than 45 years of marriage and raising children, Gene had a lot of lessons to share. I knew that Gene’s insights could spare me missteps in fatherhood, marriage and my career. Over plates of succulent barbecue, Gene began to share how to be a good father to daughters. We discussed balancing time with multiple children and modeling a healthy marriage. He shared how loving your wife well is a key component to loving your daughters well. We talked about dating your daughters through their teens and leading them into a relationship with Christ. He reflected on mistakes he…

Leadership

You ready to become a communication chameleon?

February 4, 2011

How often do you find yourself saying, “You misunderstood me”, and getting caught up in a prolonged conversation to explain what you really meant? At best, the frustrating exercise costs you time. At worst, the repeated misfires erode relationships. What if you focused all that time and energy on becoming a communication chameleon? A chameleon always changes its color to adapt to its environment, not the other way around. You can immediately become a more effective and others centered communicator by doing the same. Instead of assuming other people need to understand you better, what if you assumed you need to understand them better? Although it will take some time and effort to study your audience and you have to believe they’re worth it, the impact can be significant. The effort alone will help establish a healthier connection that will serve as a conduit for better communication. As you master the…

Leadership

Do your adversaries respect you?

September 27, 2011

I just finished reading the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, a wonderful, albeit lengthy, account of Grant’s military endeavors. In several scenes I was struck by the respect both sides showed for the other’s generals and in particular Grant. Prior to one of the battles, the picket lines for both sides were so close that the soldiers drew water from the same small creek the separated them. Grant rode out without his party one day to inspect the scene first-hand. As he approached the lines, the union picket guard called for the troops to salute, but Grant quipped, “Never mind the general”. As Grant rode on he neared the confederate line. Seeing Grant approaching, the confederate picket guard called for the troops to salute the general of their enemy as they would their own. Grant returned their salute. The men seemed to acknowledge that although Grant was waged in an…

Leadership

A quick gauge on relational strength

August 25, 2011

Wondering how strong a significant relationship at home or work really is? Here’s a quick gauge: How comfortable are you saying difficult things? If you shy or run away from difficult conversations, it’s probably because intuitively you know the relationship cannot weather the turbulence. Significant relationships that cannot withstand the turbulence caused by honest and transparent communication are weak. If you find yourself in this situation, how you can invest in the relationship so the thought of saying the hard things doesn’t make you queasy?

Leadership

Doing what you can v. Doing what you must

August 11, 2011

What separates mediocre service from service worth telling others about? Isn’t it doing whatever you can for your customers v. doing what you must? A “must” perspective is inherently limiting and restrictive. It’s rooted in rules, checklists and contracts. A “can” perspective is inherently expansive and freeing. It’s rooted in permission, opportunities and the spirit of the agreement. I believe a “must” customer orientation develops out of a culture that manages their people that way. Employees follow rules, are policed with checklists and are routinely told to consult the handbook. I believe a “can” customer orientation develops out of a culture that gives its people permission to exercise good judgement, that pushes its people to take initiative and to act with the overall intent in mind. You agree?

Leadership

Leaders need a hairpin trigger for resolving conflict

February 22, 2011

What happens when conflict emerges around you? Do you avoid or ignore it or do you lean in? Regardless of the source or catalyst, the most effective leaders know that healthy acknowledgement and resolution of conflict is critical for them and their team to keep moving forward. When conflict emerges around you, have a hairpin trigger for acknowledgement and resolution. Lean in to understand the issues and seek to restore genuine peace. Do not let conflict fester or spread. Dealing with it may cost you some time and emotional energy, but both are less costly on the front end than the back.

Leadership

Signs are overrated

February 27, 2012

Late one evening as I drove back into Austin some field lights shinning brightly off the road caught my attention. The location was peculiar. I did not think there was a baseball or soccer field located there and was curious about what it could be. The next time I passed by I decided to veer off and take a look. I discovered to my delight that the lights were used to illuminate a driving range. Being a golfer and lacking a nearby range, this was a welcomed find. The first time I patroned the place, the owner handed me a bucket of balls and suggested I pay on the way out since he was “using his internet connection to browse the web and couldn’t run my credit card until he was done.” I proceeded to hit my bucket of balls and returned to the office when I was done. I…