Leadership

Habits / Leadership / Relationships / Stories

Lessons in leadership from Frances Hesselbein, part 2

Frances invited me to her office. The first day I went, I approached the front desk. The security guy was friendly. As he processed my ID he said, "Oh yeah, Frances gets big visitors. Sometimes Generals come in. Four stars, ones from TV. They all have to wait for her." Impressive! Her office is in a big Park Avenue high-rise office building in the 50s. The lobby had fifty-foot ceilings, or something really high, and clear glass walls looking out on Park Avenue. Her executive assistant came down to tell me that there was nothing serious, but Frances had to go to the doctor that morning after being on her feet all day at West Point the day before. She took me up to the…

August 21, 2015

Lessons in leadership from Frances Hesselbein, part 1

Education / Freedom / Leadership

Lessons in leadership from Frances Hesselbein, part 1

"To serve is to live." Frances Hesselbein had the fastest, clearest, most direct, and most meaningful answer of anyone I remember asking her passion. Five minutes into our pre-lunch conversation and she went right to the point. Experience and, I believe, only experience enables people to encapsulate great meaning in a minimum of words. I was immediately struck by the power and meaning in these few short words: "to serve is to live." If you read her writings, you see these five words a lot, but they carry more meaning when she says them directly after you ask her passion. Most of the next couple hours' conversation was reviewing and approaching the words from different perspectives. I knew many people call her the best leader…

August 20, 2015

Humor / Leadership / Relationships / Tips

“To convince” means “to provoke debate” and rarely works

Talk about leading people and a lot of people will talk to you about convincing people as a way of leading them. I recommend against this strategy. Convincing someone implies logically debating. Changing someone's behavior means changing their motivations, which means changing their emotions. Logical argument evokes emotions of debate. Convincing motivates people to disagree. They also feel like you're trying to impose your values on them. If you disagree with me right now, your own emotional reaction is illustrating the point! In other words: I will convince you that trying to convince people provokes disagreement. Either you agree with me, in which case you agree. Or you disagree with me, in which case you've illustrated my point. People who try to convince a lot…

August 18, 2015

Fitness / Leadership / Stories

Old man still got it

My team won the first sports tournament I played in on Sunday that I remember since college (which I don't remember that well). I may have won some tournaments playing with the elite teams I played on in club and the co-ed team I went to Nationals with in 1998. There's nothing like the feeling of winning a hard competition. It was just summer league, more of a fun league than competitive, but it still counts. There are points in close games where, if you want to win, you have to put the players on the line who will win the game. In college and even sometimes in clubs, that meant me. However nervous inside, I walked on the field confidently, or as confidently as…

August 11, 2015

Leaders rarely work in absolutes

If you find yourself thinking someone else is wrong and you have to convince them what's right, you probably aren't leading that effectively. Once they sense you trying to impose your values on them, you're probably motivating them to debate you, which is not getting the job done. Successful leaders motivate people to get jobs done. When you view the object of leaders' work as people, you realize you have to work with what you have---their beliefs, perspectives, habits, and so on, just like a plumber has to deal with the pipes in the building, not the pipes he or she would have put there. This perspective leads you to start by understanding the beliefs, perspectives, habits, and so on of your team, not trying…

August 10, 2015

Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: Is It Wrong If a Friend Sells My Hand-Me-Downs?

Ethicist / Leadership / Nonjudgment / Relationships

Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: Is It Wrong If a Friend Sells My Hand-Me-Downs?

Continuing my series of alternative responses to the New York Times column, The Ethicists, looking at the consequences of one's actions instead of imposing values on others, here is my take on today's post, "Is It Wrong If a Friend Sells My Hand-Me-Downs?" I have two small children and am frequently divesting our household of toys, clothes and other child supplies. I sell the larger items, but I typically give the smaller items away to a neighborhood parent or leave them in a box in front of my house to be taken for free. A friend on my block recently indicated that she takes much of what we leave out, and I've since offered her first pick before leaving the remaining items outside. I was…

August 9, 2015

Leadership / Perception

Programmers work with computers and leaders work with people

When programmers work, the objects they work with tend to be computers. When plumbers work, they tend to work with pipes. Carpenters work with wood. Leaders work with people. People are the objects of leaders' work. Their tools are conversations---their equivalents of keyboards, wrenches, and saws. Most professions require thought, planning, and writing those plans out---programmers, plumbers, and carpenters included. After they finish planning and writing their plans, they act by working on the objects of their trade. Leaders do too. Their objects are people. When chefs train, they learn to use tools like knives. When leaders train, they learn to use tools like conversation, perception, belief, and habit skills. Not knowing how to use perception skills is like a surgeon not knowing how to…

August 8, 2015

Entrepreneurship / Leadership

Op/Ed Fridays: “How Much Is a C.E.O. Worth?” misses the point

Everyone outside large corporations believes they pay their CEOs more than necessary for their performance, or at least a huge majority. In the latest of a million articles on the topic, "How Much Is a C.E.O. Worth? America's Confused Approach to Pay," the New York Times continues to ask ineffective questions about changing anything. Like most articles, it asks "Do corporate chief executives make too much money, or too little?" and other questions of value. We already know there is no absolute measure of worth. Corporations pay what they negotiate with CEOs, the same as with other employees. Nowhere does the article use the most relevant words in pricing: supply and demand. Therefore the article never reaches any helpful solutions. I can tell you that…

August 7, 2015

Habits / Leadership / Tips

Want someone to help you more? Show appreciation!

I did someone a favor and didn't get thanked. No big deal. I'm not offended, but I'm not inclined to help them again. I read about leaders who send handwritten notes to people in their teams and the loyalty and dedication such little shows of appreciation create. I've written "how to get a mentor in two easy steps that work." Showing appreciation influences people a lot. It doesn't take much physical work or burn many calories. It takes the mental effort to get into the habit. I don't claim to do it especially well compared to others, but I do it well compared to me in the past.

August 6, 2015

Do you need to overcome a huge challenge — a crucible — to lead or reach the top?

Many people believe you have to overcome a huge challenge forced on you to lead or to reach the top---the Harvard Business Review article "Crucibles of Leadership," for example. I tend not to agree. I don't see the necessity of overcoming a huge challenge forced on you from the outside. Logically, one counterexample will show you don't need such a challenge. To suggest people need crucibles fits too much into the pattern of romanticizing people who attain what others wish they could: "Oh, I could have become great like so-and-so but life just never gave me the challenge they got." It feels like an excuse for complacency. It also sounds like a story that sells copy. Even the word, "crucible," sounds exotic. Steve Martin's memoir…

August 5, 2015

Art / Awareness / Leadership / Perception / Relationships

More ineffable truth and beauty of regular life

The subtlety and nuance of ordinary life has more than enough to compel it without all the drama that most TV and movies add. Even sitting still for ten minutes is more excitement than most people can handle. The scene below from Girl With a Pearl Earing puts more intimacy, vulnerability, and sexuality into the slightest movement of a hand. The sensuality of mixing paints, the eye contact, and the gasp help, but just the touch is a lot. I don't think you need to see the rest of the movie, though it contributes. https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/girl_with_pearl_earring_clip.ogv More overt movies wish they could evoke the emotion and spark of this scene. I find the most interesting parts of art and life are in the subtle nuances. You…

August 4, 2015

Awareness / Evolutionary Psychology / Leadership / Models / Nature

Language, communication, evolutionary psychology, and leadership

A client who knows I've applied a lot from evolutionary psychology to leadership and self-awareness wrote: What's your opinion of the theory that language serves primarily as persuasion? In its raw form, I'm currently telling you that you are an authority by asking a question. And that sentence might seem like it's an authoritative statement, but instead it is clarifying my question, which in its clarification is a neediness to be understood on my part, and distancing us even further. Does that make sense? I read the Red Queen and I don't know what to think anymore. Noting that [an entrepreneurial friend of his who is very successful] mentions the book often, I can guess that at some of the theories in the Red Queen…

August 1, 2015

SIDCHAs in the wild

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs / Stories

SIDCHAs in the wild

After driving a smelly twenty-seven-year-old pick up truck with wobbly steering and a barely functional clutch all night from my cousin's wedding outside Pittsburgh to my friend's networking day-long workshop in Manhattan, one of the session leaders asked the attendees to describe ourselves. I was too tired for small talk. He gave us paper and crayons do illustrate our descriptions. I asked if I could demonstrate instead of illustrate. He liked the idea. So when my turn came to describe myself, I brought everyone into a circle, told them my burpee-starting and SIDCHA stories, and had everyone do a few burpees. Everyone loved doing burpees. They get the blood flowing and your lungs breathing. In a group they're fun. Afterwards, people thanked me for making…

July 29, 2015

Art / Leadership / Relationships

How media represent and misrepresent leadership: A reader’s questions

A reader asked for follow-up on how media shows leadership, following three posts from a couple weeks ago---This is not leadership. It makes people think it is and that's part of why we have poor leaders, part 1; part 2; part 3; and Learning about relationships ruins most movies and TV. Before the questions, I don't want to overstate what I know about relationships and how media shows them, so I have to start by saying I'm just sharing views from casual viewing, not a systematic study. I'm not trying to convince, just to share my views. I'm happy to be shown I missed something or that you disagree. His first question: What did you learn in your personal relationships that led you to see…

July 25, 2015

Creativity / Education / Leadership

Summer Teaching Institute Reflections, day 5

I've written about inquiry-driven project-based learning and learning leadership and entrepreneurship. It's a style of teaching that's one of the main foundations of how I teach and coach leadership. It's different than lecturing. Here's why I avoid lecturing when I lead and teach. This week I'm attending Science Leadership Academy's intensive Summer Teaching Institute. Science Leadership Academy is a school founded on inquiry-driven project-based learning, so it's one of the best places to learn it. To help reflect and share what I learn, I'm posting daily notes here. Day 5 Presentation Revise vision statement Today we presented our unit plans. Everyone had fifteen minutes to present what they created over the past few days, though we've all taught our courses before. Everyone started with a…

July 24, 2015

Creativity / Education / Leadership

Summer Teaching Institute Reflections, day 4

I've written about inquiry-driven project-based learning and learning leadership and entrepreneurship. It's a style of teaching that's one of the main foundations of how I teach and coach leadership. It's different than lecturing. Here's why I avoid lecturing when I lead and teach. This week I'm attending Science Leadership Academy's intensive Summer Teaching Institute. Science Leadership Academy is a school founded on inquiry-driven project-based learning, so it's one of the best places to learn it. To help reflect and share what I learn, I'm posting daily notes here. Day 4 Agenda Exercise: Make passive course exercises they gave us (like "have the students do a lab") active by having everyone suggest an idea (like "have the students describe the effect of the discovery on science…

July 23, 2015

Creativity / Education / Leadership

Summer Teaching Institute Reflections, day 3

Day 3 Today's agenda: Nature versus nurture interactive exercise Unit flow Solo work on unit plan Talk about rubrics Described deliverables: Friday we'll present our unit plans to the group. Tomorrow we'll do some exercises but mostly work on the unit plans More solo work on unit plan Unit flow Do they know what's coming next? If not, maybe you lead them through steps with exercises, materials, data, etc. If so, are they figuring out what to do? You plan stages. Students need a rationale to do it, why should they care? Can work backward from what you want them to learn and create exercises or other way around Useful to break big projects into many checkpoints. How will they get feedback before they submit?…

July 22, 2015

Education / Leadership

Summer Teaching Institute Reflections, day 2

I've written about inquiry-driven project-based learning and learning leadership and entrepreneurship. It's a style of teaching that's one of the main foundations of how I teach and coach leadership. It's different than lecturing. Here's why I avoid lecturing when I lead and teach. This week I'm attending Science Leadership Academy's intensive Summer Teaching Institute. Science Leadership Academy is a school founded on inquiry-driven project-based learning, so it's one of the best places to learn it. To help reflect and share what I learn, I'm posting daily notes here. Day 2 Today's first set of exercises seemed to revolve around expression, language, power, and self-awareness. Again we approached them From different perspectives: written, videos from student projects, group discussion, personal reflection Using different media Solo and…

July 21, 2015

Summer Institute Reflections

Education / Leadership

Summer Institute Reflections

I've written about inquiry-driven project-based learning and learning leadership and entrepreneurship. It's a style of teaching that's one of the main foundations of how I teach and coach leadership. It's different than lecturing. Here's why I avoid lecturing when I lead and teach. This week I'm attending Science Leadership Academy's intensive Summer Teaching Institute. Science Leadership Academy is a school founded on inquiry-driven project-based learning, so it's one of the best places to learn it. To help reflect and share what I learn, I'm posting daily notes here. Day 1 We practiced parts of two projects: a "court case" about factory conditions (part of a unit on the industrial revolution and its results today) and creating a child's toy based on neuroscience. The two teachers…

July 20, 2015

Leadership / Perception

Are you motivating people for their benefit or yours?

Have you experienced someone trying to influence or lead you for their benefit, not caring about your interests? You didn't like it, did you? You probably resented them. You know what they ask you to do will help them but if you don't know it will help you, their leadership discourages you. Putting your interests before the team's discourages team mates and lead them to question your influence. They probably didn't know they were discouraging. So if they didn't know, how do you know if you are? Here's one way to find out. Think of what it means to motivate. What do you do when you motivate? What is your relationship with the people you're motivating? Think of yourself motivating at your best, whatever best…

July 17, 2015

Awareness / Leadership

People want recognition

If you want to lead people, letting them act on their existing motivations will motivate them a lot more than not recognizing those motivations. If that motivation builds in caring about others' interests, all the more effective. A lot of people look down on others who do things for personal recognition, applause, glory, and things like that. "You should do it because it's good, that's all," they say. Often they don't say it, they just think it. People who think this way miss a major aspect of people's motivations. People like recognition for their work too. It makes a lot of sense. How many times has someone intended to help you but actually annoyed you? Did your parents try to get you into a different…

July 13, 2015

Education / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

Op-Ed Friday: Men and learning leadership

At a meeting to promote the teaching of leadership a couple months ago, I saw several proposals to support women pursuing leadership but none for men. I sensed that others there felt that since men held nearly all corporate and government positions of authority that men had greater access to positions of leadership. I didn't feel comfortable bringing it up, but I found a few perspectives missing. Advantages existing for men to attain leadership positions doesn't make the average man happier or make his life easier. Most men have no access the corporate or political power of any sort. Actually, men having advantages unrelated to leadership would suggest men would learn less how to lead, since they'd need less skill. We as a nation, society,…

July 10, 2015

Education / Entrepreneurship / Exercises / Leadership

Why leadership and entrepreneurship exercises work

It sucks when you're playing a team sport and you get shut down trying to cut to get open, the other team scores on you, you throw into an interception or some mistake like that. Few of us enjoy admitting to faults, so we often make excuses that the problem was with your team mates, the sun, the equipment, or something out of your control. When you run drills or exercises in practice, it's another story. Effective ones are designed to focus on particular skills. A cutting drill, for example, focuses on cutting. You might have to run the same cut many times in a row against different team mates but everything else is the same. If you don't get open, you can't blame anyone…

July 7, 2015

Fitness / Freedom / Leadership

July 4, 1939: “I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth”

Lou Gehrig was one of the greatest athletes of the twentieth century. He died in his prime from the disease often named after him. On July 4, 1939, he gave his retirement speech, which I copied below. Some career highlights from Wikipedia: He was an All-Star seven consecutive times, a Triple Crown winner once, an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player twice, and a member of six World Series champion teams. He had a lifetime .340 batting average, .632 slugging average, and a .447 on base average. He hit 493 home runs and had 1,995 runs batted in (RBI). He had a rare disease we now call ALS, which results in rapidly increasing paralysis, difficulty in swallowing and speaking, and a life expectancy of less…

July 4, 2015

Art / Leadership / Relationships

Learning about relationships ruins most movies and TV

My pasts three posts were about how media misrepresents leadership like juvenile fantasies of beating people who disagree with you. If you don't know how to lead, you might enjoy the drama of the misrepresentations, but you risk retarding your growth. It's deeper than just leadership. Movies and TV dramatize and misrepresent nearly all relationships. The more I learn about relationships... Well, for one thing the more my life improves. But the more I learn about relationships, the more those I see in movies and television seem twisted into what will hook people into watching more. TV shows and movies feel engineered for profit more than expressive works. Relationships outside of TV and movies have nuance, subtlety, and complexity. Most TV shows and movies overload…

July 3, 2015

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