Toughest part of leadership

Today we have a guest blog from Jim Hessler:

I surfed the ‘net today looking for answers to this question:

“What is the toughest aspect of leadership?”

Not surprisingly, I found a lot of answers.  Examples:

• Making decisions
• Looking at yourself honestly
• Dealing with conflict
• Building a culture
• Taking action when you “don’t know”
• Dealing with negative employees
• Letting go and delegating
• Being consistently positive

But here’s my favorite. It comes from a college basketball coach named Kevin Eastman:

• The hardest part of leadership is this:  you must be able to tell the truth.

Amen, Kevin. I agree wholeheartedly. The ability to speak the truth is a rare quality. It involves risk.  It invites conflict.  It often incites passionate response.  For all these reasons, it takes tremendous courage.

Like so many other aspects of leadership, telling the truth puts you “out there” in an exposed place – on the proverbial limb where all you can hang onto is a fierce belief in your instincts, your convictions, your intellect, and your openness to being influenced by the perspectives of others.

Telling the truth also creates tremendous potential for growth – for you, for your relationships, and for your organization.

As you go through the rest of your day today or tomorrow, monitor how aligned your words are with your convictions.  Are you couching?  Hedging?  Not being as straightforward as you could for fear of … what — not being able to tell the truth effectively?

Or, on the other hand, do you tell the truth too bluntly, not assessing how it’s landing on the recipient – not assessing whether the way they hear it motivates them in a positive way?

JIM HESSLER

… brings over 25 years of business management and executive leadership experience to Path Forward, which he founded in 2001.

Jim has been an award-winning salesman, sales manager, general manager, and executive. He has specialized in turning around underperforming operations, and in the mid 90’s he helped lead a massive national reorganization for a Fortune 150 company.

Jim’s experience in general management has resulted in broad and deep knowledge of nearly all aspects of a well-run business. From building and managing a sales organization, to managing complex inventories and delivery systems, to generating vision and trust in demoralized organizations, to leading complex restructuring efforts, Jim has earned a depth of knowledge and insight that serves his Path Forward clients exceedingly well, regardless of the leadership challenges they face.

Jim lives in Issaquah, Washington, and has been married for 32 years to Paula Weiss, a teacher in the Issaquah School District.

Leadership Smarts

Today we have a guest blog from Jim Hessler:

Your computer would like you to be more like it. Don’t do it.

You are not a computer. Don’t try to operate like one.  The intelligence that fosters leadership is very, very different from the “intelligence” of your computer.

What constitutes leadership intelligence?

1. A well-rounded intellect. Reading To Kill a Mockingbird or Moby Dick might help you lead as much as repeated readings of Good to Great. Don’t be a “business savant;” the type of intelligence required to understand spreadsheets and design processes is fed and supported by a broader awareness of the world.
2. Studying human nature. When you go to the ball game, are you more interested in the players’ statistics than in the amazing panorama of human behavior in the stands?  Great leaders are fascinated with what makes humans tick.
3. Awareness of political and social issues. What’s going on in the world around you affects your business.  If that doesn’t make sense to you, you’re not thinking strategically.  One example:  as fossil fuels get harder — and more expensive — to extract from the ground and the oceans, have you considered the impact on your business 10 years down the road?
4. Spirituality. Whatever form this takes, I believe a leader has to have a spiritual life. It grounds you, challenges you to consider your values in every decision, gives you time for reflection and contemplation, and opens you to depth in your relationships. Whether you commune with the gods or the sparrows, remember that you are a whole human being and your organization will benefit if you are bringing a bigger “you” into the workplace.
5. Physical intelligence. Understanding what your body needs and meeting those needs is a form of leadership intelligence. It improves not just your physical, but also your intellectual, emotional, and relational “posture” in countless ways.

YOUR PATH FORWARD: To what extent do you spend focused time, every week, developing each of the five kinds of intelligence above?  On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself on each.  (1 is “no time at all”; 10 is “the ideal amount of time for becoming steeped in this kind of intelligence.”)  Then take your two lowest scores and create a plan for engaging in activities that develop those two capacities.

You are not a computer. Don’t just plug yourself in, power up, and spend your day processing. Be a human being. Be a leader.

Jim Hessler:

Jim brings over 25 years of business management and executive leadership experience to Path Forward, which he founded in 2001.

Jim has been an award-winning salesman, sales manager, general manager, and executive. He has specialized in turning around underperforming operations, and in the mid 90’s he helped lead a massive national reorganization for a Fortune 150 company.

Jim’s experience in general management has resulted in broad and deep knowledge of nearly all aspects of a well-run business. From building and managing a sales organization, to managing complex inventories and delivery systems, to generating vision and trust in demoralized organizations, to leading complex restructuring efforts, Jim has earned a depth of knowledge and insight that serves his Path Forward clients exceedingly well, regardless of the leadership challenges they face.

Jim lives in Issaquah, Washington, and has been married for 32 years to Paula Weiss, a teacher in the Issaquah School District.