Leadership Challenge

Co-op Leading: Not as easy as it sounds.

I recently had the pleasure of conducting an LPI workshop for the board of a cooperative preschool. I went in with a lot of assumptions about the simplicity of the issues they faced. Leading in a preschool environment, simple right? Leading with lots of help, it's a co-op after all, easy right? Wrong! I was humbled by the challenges they face and impressed by the way in which they embraced leadership as a means to address those challenges. They are all parents of small children. This is a high maintenance time of life: schedules are packed and plans change, a lot. Their time is limited and yet they made leadership development a priority. They share a core value of wanting to have their kids in a place that is safe and nurturing while they are at work. What they struggle with is a vision for how they can successfullyimpact change because they are so caught in the challenges of the day to day. In order to create and support such a place they do a lot. They are all expected to serve on the board at some point while their child attend the school. This means they are often placed into roles they feel unprepared for. This board rotates completely every year. The positive of this is there is limited time they have to dedicate to the board, the negative is they feel there is limited time to make substantive change and little opportunity to mentor future parents so they can benefit form experience. The other challenge is the co-op system itself. They are all equals, they are all "owners", so who's the leader?

This was a perfect example of the concept "Leadership is Everyone's Business" and they recognized that. They embraced the LPI as a way to show them how they could be more effective individually and therefore have more impact collectively. They used the LPI results to dig into opportunities for them to individually stretch so they could have impact and the school could flourish. It spoke volumes to me on the power of shared values. It also reinforced for me that being an exemplary leader is never easy. In the small little world of preschool, the challenges in effective leadership are not small. What I witnessed was a group of leaders with shared values who seized the initiative to be more effective individually so they could be more effective collectively. I also saw parents who were modeling the way for their children by stretching, learning, and leading.
posted by
Beth High

Embracing change in uncertain times.

I joined a terrific webinar yesterday sponsored by Sonoma Learning Systems in California. It featured Steve Coats discussing his book There is No Box. The meat of this book comes from Steve and his co-author Tom Heuer's research on growth. Steve made the point that the when one is challenged, faced with an obstacle, the only route to growth is through change. Therefore, leaders who can embrace change, help clear the way for growth. This way of looking at challenge in relation to growth seemed particularly relevant this week as we watched our economy falter. In hearing the economic pundits discuss the activity of the week you could sense the panic rising. What we all hope for is healthy economic growth, and we have hit some major obstacles. It's time for change to clear the path. But listening to an economist explains why the plunge occurred this week makes the head spin. It is tough for most to relate at that level. Is this all happening beyond our control? Is there anything to be done or do we all just brace for the fall? Another key phrase then comes to mind. Leadership is everyone's business. Moving from challenge to growth requires change. A leaders job is to challenge the process or embrace change and leadership is everyone's business. So, as leaders, we have individual responsibility to think about ways to influence and embrace change that would impact the economy and clear the path for growth. Individual actions may not change the S&P index, but they are part of the whole. So what are the things we can do as individual leaders to embrace economic change? Shopping, as we've been directed to do in the past, seems counterintuitive. Burning less fuel seems obvious. It's time to get creative and remember, there is no box.
Posted by,
Beth High

Happiness Is Out There

A couple Saturday's ago, while running the usual weekend errands, I was tuned to my local public radio station, KQED-FM, listening to NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday. My mood perked up immediately when I heard one of my favorite interviewers, Scott Simon, announce that next up on his show would be Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. For the next eight minutes I listened to the delightful grump entertain with stories about fascinating people and places and the lessons he learned and epiphanies he had while traveling the globe from Iceland to Thailand in his hunt for happiness. Do yourself a favor and listen to the entire eight minutes online on NPR. Then read the book.

One of the insights that Weiner had, and one that is well worth all of us pondering, is that "Happiness is not inside of us but out there. Or, to be more precise, the line between out there and in here is not as sharply defined as we think." And then he goes on to quote the philosopher Alan Watts who observed, "…you cannot have what is 'in here' unless you have what is 'out there.'" In other words, place matters.

I hope I am not spoiling the book for you in sharing one story. (Actually, I really can't spoil the book, because Weiner is a wonderful storyteller, and you'll want to read all of what he's written.) I think one vignette captures his main point. "Of all the places I visited, of all the people I met, one keeps coming back to me again and again: Karma Ura, the Bhutanese scholar and cancer survivor. 'There is no such thing as personal happiness,' he told me. 'Happiness is one hundred percent relational.' At the time, I didn't take him literally. I thought he was exaggerating to make his point: that our relationships with other people are more important than we think….But now I realize Karma meant exactly what he said. Our happiness is completely and utterly intertwined with other people…."

This point was driven home to me this past weekend when I was with an annual gathering of some very close friends and colleagues. We've been meeting ritualistically the second week of January for the last ten years. One of the activities we did with author John Izzo, based on his new book, The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die, was to first think about all the things we wanted to do or accomplish between now and the time we die. Next John asked us to now imagine we were given the news that we had only six months to live. What would that list of things to do or accomplish look like?

There was a marked difference in the two lists. The long-term future was more about lofty goals and meaningful contributions. The second six-month list was all about relationships. It was all about spending time with family and friends, visiting people I hadn't seen in a long time, enjoying the little pleasures of being with people. This was true for the majority of my other colleagues as well. Perhaps what we want most is to take with us on our next hunt for happiness is the very thing that brings us happiness in this life—the people we love, the relationships we have.

What has all this got to do with leadership? It struck me that Barry Posner and I have written for years about how leadership is a relationship—a relationship between those who choose to follow and those who aspire to lead. It's the quality of this relationship that determines how effective leaders are. After having listened to Eric Weiner and looked at my own life, it also strikes me that exemplary leaders play a role in how happy we all are. Not just satisfied, but happy. Is there a correlation between our happiness and our performance? I don't know that we know, but maybe it doesn't really matter. When our final days arrive my sense is we'll be thinking less about what we accomplished and more about the joy we brought to the lives of others. What do you think?

Posted by Jim Kouzes

Post holiday blues, or is it green?

On the heels of a wonderful holiday season I've been struggling with getting rid of all the remnants of the season. It seems as though every time I turn around there is another plastic cup or ornament or ribbon left over from the festivities. So much stuff. Each year I say we are going to cut back; cut back on "buying" and shift to "making", cut back on paper and stamps and go to e-greetings. If I want to Model the Way for my children and the way is consuming less, then I am doing only a mediocre job. We are so bound to our traditions and I find my daughter, who has been away at college, is more attached to them, not less. This post holiday season I was fortunate enough to see The Story of Stuff. I was blown away. It is simple, engaging, and impressive. We asked our kids to watch it with us and what followed was some great conversation and I detect, the first real shift in our understanding of the far reaching implications of our consuming. It remains to be seen whether we will be able to shift gears next year, but I am more hopeful, more committed, and inspired to do what we can. Please enjoy the story and spread it around.

Posted by

Beth High

Leadership is Everyone's Business..including reporters.

In his wonderful book, Let Your Life Speak, Parker Palmer describes the natural existence of leadership in his life. He says,

“…for better or for worse, I lead by word and deed simply because I am here doing what I do. If you are also here, doing what you do, then you also exercise leadership of some sort.”

He expresses in such a simple and profound way both the opportunity and the responsibility we all share to lead. Reading it I was reminded of the expression I first heard in graduate school (in a sports psychology class of all places): “You are always influencing”. We influence with what we say and what we don’t say. We influence with our presence and also with our absence. This expression has taken on profound meaning during my parenting years. I would have loved a free pass from influencing from time to time. But, as Palmer so beautiful expresses, we lead by word and deed, every word, every deed. There is no exception. When I consider that reality I have a new empathy for those who are on the campaign trail and new frustration with the media that follow them and interpret their words and deeds for us. I wouldn’t relish a reporter following me around interpreting, and all to often judging, how I handle issues that come up with my teenagers. Would you?

As Palmer underscores, we are all influencers. The primary in New Hampshire had several examples of the great influence of the media. I was struck by their lack of accountability and their willingness to wield their influence without the accompanying sense of responsibility. Like the political leaders they cover, they lead by word and deed “simply by doing what they do” yet I don’t see them held to the same level of accountability.

We will all need to make a choice about which candidate we support to lead us forward and I for one will be measuring them against the 5 practices. However, I plan to filter the abundance of information out there with compassion. I also hope to pursue information from sources that recognize their responsibility and accountability and their potential to influence.

The decision that faces us this year will impact the future of our nation and the world for years to come. Each of us can influence the soundness of that decision. I advocate that we hold the media to the same standards and level of scrutiny to which we hold ourselves, and our political leaders. I advocate that we demand they act as leaders as well. Do you agree? And if so, how do we do that? How can we best say,  leadership is everyone's business, including yours.

posted by
Beth High

Youth Leadership: Reasons for Hope, Reasons for Concern

Barry Posner and I are currently at work on The Student Leadership Challenge to be released later this year. It is an uplifting and gratifying experience to read the Personal Best Leadership stories from some truly extraordinary college-age leaders. Many stories rival any that we have gathered from even the most experienced executives. It should give all of us reason for hope and optimism about our future.

While working on the book this morning, I received an email from Amy Packard, our publicity manager at Jossey-Bass. She sent along a link to an article in The Washington Post about the Marshall High girls' basketball team in Falls Church, Virginia. The article reports that “Each Marshall player has spent about 10 hours this season studying leadership handouts, evaluating teammates and themselves on leadership skills and discussing aspects of leadership in meetings with Coach Noel Klippenstein.” Wow. Ten hours in a season is more than most corporations spend with their supervisors talking about leadership. Part of their reading, we are proud to report, is The Leadership Challenge. Thank you, coach, for introducing leadership to our leaders of the future.

It’s extremely heartening to hear coach Klippenstein say that "Any coach who is waiting for a leader to emerge is waiting for second place to happen…I feel pretty strongly about that. Leaders are made. So if there's some mentorship and some guidance, then [they] can be much greater leaders." She gets it. Coaches all across the country should take heed. In research by Public Allies a few years back, 26% of 18 to 30 year-olds identified “teachers and coaches” as their primary source of leader role models. Among that same group, 40% selected “family members” as the place they look for the best examples of leadership. Leadership is everyone’s business, and young people are more likely to turn to their family, teachers, coaches, and others close to them for leadership examples than they are to look to senior corporate executives, politicians, military officers, or others. Young people are also eager learners about leading once they understand that leadership is something they, too, have the capacity to exhibit. Sophomore point guard Theresa Hackett put it this way: "At first it seemed like, 'Oh, we have to read this whole packet?' But I think it really does help everyone to get understanding. It kind of motivates you: Okay, I want to be this person that they say is the ideal leader.”

Three cheers for Coach Klippenstein. Three cheers for the Marshall High girls' basketball team. Three cheers for our youth leaders.

Reading the Washington Post article about the Marshall High girl’s basketball team certainly uplifted my spirits, but something else I read this morning brought me back to earth. The headline blarred: “New Poll Shows Many Teens Believe Lying, Violence and Cheating Are Acceptable Behaviors.” That’s enough to make any parent – or concerned citizen – blanch.

According to a survey released in December 2007 by Junior Achievement and Deloitte, “The majority of teens surveyed (71 percent) say they feel fully prepared to make ethical decisions when they enter the workforce. Yet 38 percent of that group believe it is sometimes necessary to cheat, plagiarize, lie or even behave violently in order to succeed. Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of all teens surveyed think cheating on a test is acceptable on some level, and more than half of those teens (54 percent) say their personal desire to succeed is the rationale.” Yikes. It certainly gives me pause…and wonder what the parents, teachers, coaches, and peers of these kids are talking about — or not talking about — at home and at school to give kids the impression that cheating is a route to success. Don’t they know that 88% of people say they want leaders who are honest? Don’t they know that integrity is the number one most universally positive quality people look for in leaders? Don’t’ they know that credibility is the foundation of leadership? I guess not.

It depresses me that we have failed to communicate clearly to one hundred percent of our young people that honesty and integrity are cornerstones in the foundation of leadership…and absolutely essential to long term personal success. This is why I am renewing my commitment to youth leadership development in 2008. From reading the Personal Best stories of our young leaders, there is so much reason for hope and optimism, but we still have much work to do. And yet, that is all the more reason to be optimistic. We know that leadership makes a difference and that the more time we spend engaging others in learning to lead the more likely it is that they will become better leaders.

Let’s celebrate the Noel Klippenstein’s of the world and vow to join them in their efforts to develop the emerging leaders of tomorrow.

Posted by Jim Kouzes

Making space in the new year.

During the two days of New Years celebration the acronym DWYSYWD (Do What You Say You Will Do) rings especially true. We are prone to reviewing the past year and acknowledging commitments dropped, expectations unmet and best intentions unfulfilled. We vow all to often to do things differently in the year to come. We establish New Year’s resolutions to test our resolve to do more-of-this or less-of-that with re-energized commitment to change and follow through. In other words, we add to our “to-do” or “should” lists.

I made a commitment to end the old year and begin the new one practicing the behaviors I want to fill my life. These included time with my family and friends, time reading and reflecting, and time on my yoga mat. It was during a yoga practice that I gained a useful insight I hope will help with DWYSYWD consistency. The person leading my yoga practice on New Year’s Eve challenged us to focus on what we might be able to let go of to make more space in our lives for the commitments and changes we desired. She made an analogy to our attics; limited spaces that we tend to cram full of things with the intention of dealing with them later. Eventually, we run out of space.
There is no room for anything new and limited access to what me might find useful.

Despite our earnest commitment to change at years end, we make it REALLY difficult to honor that commitment. We just keep piling on the “shoulds”. Wouldn’t it be easier if we could first make room for change by letting some things go?  Instead of plunging into the new year with newfound determination to drive change in our lives, wouldn’t it be great if there was a natural place, newfound space for that new behavior? It’s been interesting and fun looking at the blank page of the new year this way. By letting things go and clearing some space in my heart and mind, “doing what I say I will do” feels like a natural step, not a potential misstep to worry about.

Happy New Year everyone. Happy house cleaning.   
Posted by.
Beth High

Charles Dickens’ Leadership Lesson

Three days before Christmas my wife, son, and I drove over the Bay Bridge to San Francisco to see the American Conservatory Theater’s production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. We’d seen the play many times before, but were anxious to join all the other revelers in the spirit of the season. It was an exuberant production, and we immediately got caught up in the story of Ebenezer Scrooge’s redemption from humbugging miser to generous benefactor.

There is one scene from the performance that has stuck in my mind ever since that night. It’s the episode where the first of three Spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Past, visits Scrooge and takes him back to, among other places, the warehouse of Old Fezziwig where Scrooge had once been an apprentice. The jovial Old Fezziwig closes the warehouse for a Christmas party, and everyone, including the young Ebenezer and his first love, Belle, dance and laugh and sing, experiencing all the joys of the season.

As Scrooge observes all this merriment, he is visibly transformed. Both saddened by his own current state and overjoyed to be young again, he joins in the fun. At one point there is this interaction between the Ghost of Christmas Past and Scrooge:

"A small matter," said the Ghost, "to make these silly folks so full of gratitude."

"Small!" echoed Scrooge.

The Spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices, who were pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig: and when he had done so, said,

"Why! Is it not! He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money: three or four perhaps. Is that so much that he deserves this praise?"

"It isn't that," said Scrooge, heated by the remark, and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter, self. "It isn't that, Spirit. He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count them up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune."

Go back. Reread the last paragraph again…..

Old Fezziwig’s power was “in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant,” and yet these were the very things that made service light and pleasurable and employee’s happy. Don’t we all possess this kind of power? Don’t we all have the capacity to make someone else’s day light, pleasurable and happy by word or a look?

In 1843 Charles Dickens didn’t have a clue about the global economy or the wireless Web or social networking. But he sure knew what uplifted people’s spirits. It wasn’t anything more sophisticated than a laugh, a kind word, a caring gesture, and a joyful heart.

As we ring in this New Year, let’s all resolve to employ the power of Old Fezziwig, the power that lies in each of us to make others’ lives significant and fulfilling.

Posted by Jim Kouzes