Posts

Seeing the Bigger Picture – Intentional Leadership — Week 2, Day 1 (M1) Vision

It looks like this week we are going to focus more on organizational vision than personal vision. Week two is focused on Seeing the Bigger Picture.

Leaders are often defined by the size and scope of their vision. If you know the story of the McDonald brothers, you will remember they were brilliant in terms of anticipating and responding to the desires of their market, and even more so at developing the assembly line process in terms of food production. They attempted to sell franchises, but the concept never took off. In fact, when one franchisee in Phoenix wanted to name his restaurant McDonald’s, the brothers said, “why, no one will know who we are in Phoenix!”

Enter Ray Kroc, a milkshake machine salesman who did business with the McDonald brothers. He could see the bigger picture. He envisioned McDonald’s franchises all across the country. He worked with the brothers, eventually buying the rights to franchise, etc., and his vision built the global corporation we know today.

He was convinced he was on the right track and confident in his ability to be successful. This is not to say it didn’t require years of hard work and sacrifice, but he saw the potential and made it a reality.

Break now to the story of Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google fame and fortune. They started with the challenge of linking the growing data connections on the internet. As they became more engrossed in their project, they quit school to follow their passion full-time, starting Google in a garage in 1998. By 2008, Google was processing nearly five billion web searches per month. Page says he learned something in college that drove them forward; it was this phrase:

Having a healthy disregard for the impossible.

As I’ve noted in an earlier post, while there are many out there stating certain things are impossible, there all too regularly seems to be someone, somewhere who is doing the impossible. Man on the moon. Rover on mars. Printing out human kidneys on an ink jet printer…The stories are out there to be found each and every day of someone achieving something once thought impossible.

The point here, having great vision and setting the audacious goal is a hallmark of visionary leaders.

What is the vision of your organization?

Is it big enough?

Does your team see  and understand it?

Do they believe it’s possible to achieve?

Are they as passionate as you about achieving it?

Me, I’m out to change the world one person, one experience at a time. Yes, it’s huge…and for today, at least, it’s just me (I have yet to build a team). That’s not a deterrent, though. I’m fully confident in my ability to succeed.

/1 Comment/by

Breakthrough thinking

When I was little, my mom used to bake me a chocolate-chocolate chip cake every year for my birthday. Oh, it was rich, moist, and yummy. I so looked forward to my birthday every year so I could have some (and yes, I confess to eating most of the cake myself, it was that good!). When I was in my teens, I asked her for the recipe, so I could bake the cake myself.

I was in my middle twenties, having a conversation with a friend about favorite desserts and sharing how rich and delicious this cake was, and how I couldn’t wait for it to be my birthday, so I could have some.

My friend asked, do you have the recipe? Yes.

Well, can you get what you need to make it at a grocery store? Yes.

Is there something about this recipe I don’t understand that would make it possible for you to bake this cake only at your birthday? No, it’s just…and I rattled off the ingredients.

Then she asked the key question: I guess I don’t understand, she said. Why couldn’t you just go to the store and buy the ingredients and bake the cake anytime?

This was twenty years ago, and I remember it so clearly. The proverbial light bulb went off above my head as I realized there was no reason why I couldn’t bake the cake any day of the year. I had constructed rules that said I could have that particular cake only on my birthday. The constraints were all created and enforced by me. And when asked the right question, I realized how ridiculous it was, and that I could change my beliefs and behavior about the cake at any time.

Now, this is truly a trivial and insignificant issue in the scheme of life, but it’s an excellent example of the power of the coaching process.

As a coach, my job is to ask my participants questions that will stimulate their thinking, allowing them to examine the rules, constraints, beliefs, and self-created barriers that are keeping them from achieving their goals and reaching their potential. These “aha!” moments don’t happen in every session, but they happen, and once they do, it’s amazing to watch people realize that the only thing holding them back is themselves.

That’s the moment when true, significant growth and change takes place.

Looking forward to experiencing more of these moments in upcoming coaching sessions with the amazing people I am blessed to coach.

What’s holding you back?

What’s your equivalent to my chocolate cake?

When you’re ready to experience the power of this process, call me. I’ll be waiting…

And yes, if you want the recipe, I’m happy to share. Over the past 20 years, I’ve enjoyed that cake on numerous occasions throughout the year — and on my birthday!

/by

I want to start a movement. Will you join me?

At my last corporate job, I taped Christmas cards to my office door during the holiday season. When I received a small gift in the office, I taped the gold bow that was on it to my door also. After the holidays, as I was taking down the cards, I decided to leave the bow, as a reminder of my purpose: To be a gift to the people whose lives I touch each day.

I know, it may sound corny, but it’s true. And, each morning, while I prepare for my day I talk to God and I ask him for the tools I’ll need to do his work, my job, and fulfill my purpose.

Several months after the holiday season, the bow was still on the door when a colleague stopped by to discuss something. As he was leaving, he asked about the significance of the bow, so I explained it to him. He laughed a little as he left, and looked back at my office once while he walked away. He appeared to be a bit uncomfortable with what I’d said to him. Perhaps it was unusual, certainly unexpected, not your average office conversation. I hope it made him think.

You’re probably familiar with the movie Pay it Forward, in which a young boy starts a movement of Random Acts of Kindness in response to a school assignment. Last year, through my Leadership West Virginia class, I was introduced to Anonymous Acts of Kindness (check out Secret Agent L, also).  I have taken on these Acts by paying for cars behind me when I go through toll booths; I also sometimes pay for the orders of people behind me at drive-thru windows. It feels good to do something unexpected for someone, and hopefully brighten their day.

A couple of days ago, I was flipping through a magazine and saw an article on this topic, with a little different slant. The author (her name escapes me) wrote about the many struggles — large and small — we all go through on any given day. She suggested, when one encounters someone in need, asking this simple–yet profound, perhaps even life-changing–question: If you could have a small miracle today, what would it be?

If you could have a small miracle today, what would it be?

Then, do something about it. You may not be able to fulfill the whole miracle, but you may be able to do something that makes an enormous difference. And the simple act of asking the question and actually listening to the answer is a gift in itself.

So, let’s start the movement. If (conservatively) 25 of us committed to asking the question just once this week, and following through, we could positively change the lives of at least 25 people.

Let’s carry it a step further. Each of us has the opportunity to influence at least four other people each day. If we shared our quest with each of them, and encouraged them to join us, potentially 100 other lives would be positively changed. If each of the four people we influenced, influenced at least four people in their lives, and so on and so on…you can see, the movement could grow exponentially.

Simple. Profound. Life-changing (for both giver and receiver). An amazing way to recognize the many blessings we already have in our lives. An opportunity to truly understand the difference between need and want.

Are you with me? Will you join this movement?

Let’s all meet back here in a week, and share our stories (use the comments section!). I can’t wait to hear of the amazing works we’ve done.

/1 Comment/by