Effective Leaders Don't Ping!

 

I’m going to assume that you’re familiar with the word “ping.” I suppose the next closest term to that is “freaking out.” Whichever term you prefer, Effective Leaders don’t do that.  A critical trait of an Effective Leader is the ability to remain calm, especially when all hell breaks loose. I’ll, again, assume that you know what THAT term means. If not, ask someone senior to you and count your blessings. An Effective Leader practices that meme that’s so familiar that starts with, “Stay calm,” and often describes an event that most of us don’t want to stay calm about. But how does one stay calm in the midst of assumed chaos? Here are some tips in the form of questions to ask yourself BEFORE you freak out. BEFORE is critical, by the way.

What do I know? We make decisions based on the information we have. Before making rash decisions or statements, assess what you know about the event. Ask trusted colleagues to tell you the truth. That may include your followers. They may know more than your fellow leaders. Leave emotion out of it. Just the facts, Ma’am. (Google that.)

What don’t I know? Once you’ve assessed what you know, what DON’T you know? Again, it will probably serve you to ask others. Expand your circle so that you don’t get the same information from the same people you asked the first question of. There’s often more than one perspective on the same event. Objectivity is key. You probably don’t want to ask someone who’s pinging what happened.

Who knows? Again, your fellow leaders or colleagues will probably have a different view from your followers or other bystanders. You want to make the best decision possible. You also want to know who did what. Don’t accept opinions. What was seen, not presumed.

What’s best? Having assessed as much information as you can gather, what’s best for the team, the organization, or others affected by your guidance or decision? Remember that there may be some who don’t agree with your decision, but they don’t have the information, nor gone through this process, like you just did. 

WRITE IT DOWN! Ok, you may not know how to write if you’re a young leader, no disrespect intended. Capture it on your iPhone so that you can go back and review all the data you have to make the best decision. You may have to go through the process a few times, depending on the severity of what happened.

Do stay calm. Be as objective as you can be. Do these things as quickly as you can, but no quicker. Back in the day, there was a deodorant commercial with the tag line, “Don’t ever let them see you sweat.” That’s good advice. Stay cool and calm. Be systematic about how you make decisions, and you’ll be able to control yourself from getting emotional and pinging. Don’t do it.

 

Until next time, be GREAT! You ARE! HEIRPOWER!

bob vásquez!

When Do We Quit?

 

I’ve been watering and nurturing three plants in my backyard since spring began here in Colorado. I can’t tell you when that began because the seasons in Colorado are haphazard at best. We’ve already had winter and autumn this summer. Like they say, If You Know, You Know.

 

It's September now, and the seasons are in the midst of changing again. Soon, it’ll be cold, and I won’t even think about watering those plants. I’ll probably get rid of them in a few weeks. They’ll have outlived their value. Maybe….

 

A few years ago, I nurtured a plant all summer long. It began humbly, but through my efforts and its perseverance, it eventually blossomed into a beautiful plant. Until fall. Fall usually hits Colorado abruptly. That year, it did. All of a sudden, my plant stopped growing and soon died. Not willing to surrender completely, I kept the plant in my garage all winter. A few months passed. One morning, when it had gotten almost warm, I noticed that plant in my garage. It was beginning to revive itself. I don’t know that I’ve ever been happy about a plant recovering, but I was this time. I immediately began re-nurturing it. And guess what? It came back with full force. Within a week or two, it’d regained its nature, and by spring it was beautiful again. I, of course, took credit for its health.

 

You may be wondering what this has to do with leading. It’s almost natural to give up on things once we’ve decided that they’ve outlived their value. Even people. But when do we truly know that that’s the case? As leaders, do we give up on our followers after they’ve reached a plateau, at least in our view? Do we throw them away and get new ones next season? I think that happens more than we realize. Joey had so much potential. I provided him with every resource that I could. He grew. He excelled. And then, one day, he just stopped improving. I replaced him with Dorothy, who, like Joey at first, was an unstoppable dynamo. 

 

Maybe we shouldn’t quit nurturing our followers. Maybe they, like all of Nature, reach a point where they need to revive themselves. Maybe we should accept that and keep nurturing them, not as hard, but hard enough to keep them alive through the revival period, so that they can come back in full force. 

 

When do we quit on our followers? I say, NEVER! You never know when that person, whom you hired because of their potential, has reached that potential. Keep nurturing them. They may be about to blossom. Don’t give up on them! Their best is yet to come!

 

Be GREAT! You ARE!

 

HEIRPOWER!

 

Chief bob vásquez!

The Need to Succeed

 

I hope you’ll make time to read a book by Viktor Frankl titled, Man’s Search for Meaning. It will open your eyes to many things you hadn’t thought about before.

In the introduction, Frankl writes that “success must not be pursued, it must ensue.” The word, ensue, if you’re not familiar with it, means that it is a result of something. When we pursue, we set our sights on that thing and if we’re “truly focused” that’s what we’re engulfed in doing. When something ensues, it’s almost a serendipitous conclusion that’s based on behaviors and actions that affect others more deeply than the conclusion itself.

I’m going to go out on a limb and state that all of us want to succeed. The important questions are at what and how? I recently saw a poster that read “Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader…they set out to make a difference. It’s never about the role - always about the goal.” I’m not sure who said it, but I think that’s what Frankl meant as well. The goal, or success, being making a difference.

Leading requires passion. Effective Leaders are passionate about helping others empower themselves to become who THEY can be, not what the “leader” wants them to be. Another great quote I recently came across says, “The first thing you should know about me is that I am not you. A lot more will make sense after that.” Again, an unknown author.

If your goal or your purpose, your measure of success, is how many people you’ve turned into you, or a semblance of you, that’s not success. Success in leading is when a person becomes who they were meant to be and you, somehow, helped them become so.  

My life’s purpose is to help others achieve theirs. Not mine. I know that my purpose may not be everyone’s. It took me decades to figure that out. I encourage you to consider that even if you don’t agree with someone else’s purpose or mission in life, it’s okay. As My Brother, Dave Campanale, taught me, get over it!

Whether you’re leading at work or at home, figure out what your followers dream of becoming, respect them for it, and help them out as best you can. The world needs all of our successes, not just the ones we consider right. As Pope Francis said, “Who am I to judge?”

Real success is making a difference. That difference is in helping others be themselves.