April 2022 – Welcome Back

I asked for your feedback and appreciated all the comments I received about what you liked and found useful. Please continue to let me know what you’d like more (or less) of, and other suggestions in form or content.

One client said, “You don’t want to go Monty Python on this.” Perplexed, I asked what he meant. He was referring to the catchphrase from Monty Python “And Now for Something Completely Different.” He suggested there was a lot to keep doing. Focused articles with clear points. Pragmatic approaches to improving results. Ideas to help us grow and be more effective leaders. Others encouraged me to include more topical content as I did at the start of the pandemic. Content with immediate relevance to current news and circumstances.

I also heard that we are inundated with too much content. Our email inboxes are flooded with information daily. It is my intent to help cut through the noise and make this newsletter valuable to you.

Here goes:

Anger has a place in leadership. In business it provides valuable energy in discussing concerns, fears, and conveying urgency. The problem is that it is often misused and loses its effectiveness.

Expressing anger by yelling or raising your voice, cutting people off, and speaking aggressively, is likely to be met with strong defensiveness or a shut down from others. For leaders, the most effective way to express anger is by rationally expressing the real concern behind the anger.

While an extreme example, wouldn’t Will Smith have been more effective had he expressed his anger differently in the moment? Think of how the situation might be interpreted and remembered had he taken his time at the microphone to share the negative impact the joke had on his family. Instead, all we’ll remember is his aggression and the slap.

Innovation requires much more than simply making investments in R&D or product development. Innovation comes from new ways of thinking. While they don’t grab headlines, many innovations are small things that improve the way you work or how clients interact with your business. Maybe it’s a new approach to eliminate blind transfers in a call center, or small process improvements that simplify a system or increase manufacturing yield.

It’s a mindset that goes beyond problem solving and focuses on raising the bar. But it doesn’t happen unless leaders are committed to creating an environment where innovative thinking and approaches are displayed everywhere.

This idea is detailed further in my article Don’t Innovate. Create a Culture of Innovation, but here are three ideas to get you started.

1. High standards: Create expectations that raising the bar is part of the job.
2. Safe to fail: If it’s in the service of a good outcome, go easy on failure. Innovation will not flourish if people fear consequences of mistakes.
3. Receptive to new ideas: Even if you don’t like them at first, what matters is creative thinking about key issues.

Twenty Starbucks stores have unionized with around 220 seeking elections. This is undoubtedly one of the symptoms that prompted Howard Schultz’s return. Whether you’re politically for or against unions, it’s clear that avoiding them is about leadership. In the early research for The Inspiring Leader, we analyzed business outcomes connected with excellent leadership. One of those outcomes was “likelihood of avoiding unionization.” In the research, leaders rated as most inspiring were also assessed to have the lowest risk for unionizing among their teams. Effective, even inspiring leadership is the critical ingredient in creating the kind of culture and environment that makes a union unnecessary. When employees trust you, and believe they are treated fairly, unions are unlikely to form. We’ll see if Schultz can rebuild the trust that is obviously broken. But given that it’s the second time he’s come out of retirement to handle a crisis (he did so in 2008 when the company was struggling financially), the bigger issue is how he’ll prioritize developing, coaching, and promoting leaders that can handle these issues.

This month, I’ll use this section to articulate the ideas behind the new format and how I’m thinking about it. As I mentioned earlier, I welcome your feedback and ideas you’d like me to write about. This is what you can expect with the new format, which will include up to 5 sections:

Section 1: Individual Leadership

Leadership starts with you. I will provide ideas, suggestions, and insights that focus on tangible steps you can take to enhance your leadership capabilities as an individual.

Topics will include:

●      Executive communication

●      Personal development

●      Leadership development

Section 2: Organizational Leadership

Focused on driving change within your organization? Strong organizational leadership requires strategy, innovation, communication, and intentional culture creation. Use this section to grow your organizational leadership toolbox.

Topics will include on:

●  Organizational communication

●      Revenue growth

●      Innovation

●      Driving execution

●      Sales

●      Strategy

●      Culture

Section 3: Leadership in the World

Leadership is not a position, but a way of being. We see leadership at play every day in our neighborhoods, cities, nations, and globally. There are immeasurable things to be learned about leadership through what’s happening around us.

Section 4: Reflections

I take my personal growth and finding ways to live a good life seriously. The newsletter is a place for me to share my reflections and observations on a more personal level.

Section 5: LinkedIn Live

I will continue to let you know about upcoming LinkedIn Live events so you can be sure to join.

We are experimenting with a new time to accommodate folks. Join me on Tuesday, May 10th at 3pm Eastern as we discuss Creating a Culture of Innovation.