Category: Blog

One of my mentors asserts that “every decision is a political decision.” Over the years I have come to appreciate the wisdom in that assertion.

I have also come to believe that every decision we make is an ethical decision. Each and every decision we make reflects our ethical viewpoint or worldview, somehow.

Those whom we influence — family, friends, teams, organizations, stakeholders — come to understand our ethical grounding by observing the decisions we make. They learn what to expect of/from us, whether they know it consciously or not.

The good news: Those whom we influence also begin to forecast what kind of answers and action they can expect of us ahead of time. 🙂

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

Every team, every organization experiences turbulence. Stuff happens that is unsettling, disruptive, distracting, off putting.

How we respond to turbulence has a lot to do with how well we ultimately achieve the outcomes we desire. It also has much to do with the level of confidence we enjoy from both our internal and external stakeholders. 

The best leaders I know practice some pretty common responses to turbulence. They…

• Never take their eye off the BIG picture, the vision of their organization.
• Act and react with careful deliberation, resisting the urge to be hasty.
• Solicit the insight of both their team and that of wise others.
• Frame with clarity the problem/issue to be tackled.
• Say “thanks” A LOT, especially in times of stress and duress.
• Insist on a work space that exudes respectful treatment of others, always.
• Keep attention predominantly focused on the windshield, not the rearview mirror. 

 Turbulence happens. Tough and thoughtful leaders help us navigate it with calm and purpose.

To quote the late head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chuck Noll, ” Panic is not a part of our game plan.”

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

Good questions have extraordinary power to make us think and reflect. 

Here are three very simple, very short, very provocative questions:

1) What have you learned lately that has made you better?

2) How did it do so?

3) What do you think you need to learn next?

GO!

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

 Simple choices can change trajectories. Consider what might happen if we were to…

     > Choose to be authentically present

     > Learn something new, continually

     > Help someone — anyone — every day

     > Challenge dogmas and question assumptions

     > Contribute more than we consume, freely

Seems doable. Just imagine the shift…

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning.

Folks who work in the trades have many kinds of tools at their disposal. Some of the tools are quite pointy and/or extremely sharp. Scalpels used by surgeons and picks used by jewelers come to mind. On the other hand, some tools have wide reach and are, by design, not all that sharp. The blade of a grader tractor or that of a “mudder” who works sealing sheetrock are examples, designed fill rather than dice.

Similar tools are available to those of us who ply our trade in the arena of social interaction. Sometimes our words and actions require precision and sharpness. At other times, they call for us to be smoothing rather than cutting or whittling.

Just as artisans in the physical trades, those in the professions of human interaction are wise to have all kinds of tools in our tool chest.

Even more important is knowing when to use those varying kinds of tools for optimal outcomes and peak performance.

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

Leaning into betterness requires introspection and reflection. Both of those processes are facilitated by asking some questions that need substantive answers from us:

What am I doing?

Why am I doing it?

Should I keep dedicating time/effort/resources to doing it?

If so, how might I do it better?

Works for our improvement as individuals. Works for our improvement as organizations.

BUT, only if we do it with fidelity, and a commitment to make any changes that our answers compel.

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

Team members work most energetically when they feel empowered. Oddly, some folks in leadership end up squelching that energy and enthusiasm (often not intentionally, but it occurs nonetheless).

How do leaders sometimes throw cold water on the vibrant and robust performance of a team?

• TALK, TAlk, Talk, talk, talk, talk, …
• Exclude team members from conversations/decisions that have direct bearing on them.
• Make team members feel devalued.
• “Hide” from the team, by sequestering in the office, by being “too busy to talk,” per a too cluttered calendar.

Change is inevitable. We may think we can deny, ignore, or stop the evolutionary process, but….

The misperception of being in a stable and non-fluid environment is similar to feeling like we are “still” when sitting in our recliner. It might feel like we not moving, but that is most certainly NOT the case:

• We reside on a planet that is spinning at over 1,000 miles per hour.
• We live on Mother Earth which circles the sun at a rate of 67,000 miles per hour.
• We exist in a solar system that is ripping through the universe at 483,000 miles per hour.

Even when we think we’re in a static state, we aren’t. And never will be.

Not a bad idea to learn to be adaptive to the change(s) coming our way.

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

Lao Tzu provides powerful guidance to us: “I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.”

In our busy lives of commitments, deadlines, supervision, data inundation, cluttered calendars, it is easy “drop” any or all three of those mindsets that Lao Tau proposes.

While “simplicity, patience, compassion” are critical elements for our general health and wellbeing, Compassion is the one that has the most impact on those around us, the folks we love, care for, live and work with.

Compassion delivers several reciprocative benefits to us: Kindness, Connection, Caring, Forgiveness, Encouragement. Each one we confer becomes a force multiplier for both the giver and the receiver.

An added BONUS: To show Compassion costs us nothing.

But, oh, the benefits!!!

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning. 

Just take a look. When you’re at a ballgame or in the grocery store or at your house of faith.

Observe how different the noses are on each of the faces. Or, the differences in the shape of the ears. Or, the varying heights of the folks in attendance. The differences are vast, beyond enumeration.

Yet, they’re all people. We recognize them as such. Why? Despite the incalculable differences, we are more alike than we are not.

Organizations have the same alike vs different dynamic.

Efforts at improvement (whether with individual people or in organizations) yield the best results when customized and personalized. Otherwise, they fall flat. Fad diets are a case in point.

A deep commitment to continuous improvement is, however, a pervasive commonality (alikeness) of high performing people and organizations. Duly noted.

Saddle up…

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to nc’s Recursive Learning.