Connecting The Dots...

He handed me the envelope.  It was sealed, dated, and said simply Steve.  “Save this and open it when we finish our work” he said, with a slight upturned grin.

4 months earlier, Vince and I began collaborating on a strategic planning project.  Several weeks ago, he gave me this envelope.  Knowing him as well as I did, I knew this had something to do with the project.  So into my briefcase went the letter sized envelope, almost forgotten until today. 

Today, we met with the CEO to present our final report and recommendations.  We were very prepared.  Our respective Teams had done their research, compiled data, and aggressively challenged each other on options and final paths.  We were confident of the new direction the Organization needed to go, and now we needed to convince the Charismatic leader.  

As Vince offered a brief introduction of our agenda, I placed the thick deck in front of him.  The CEO placed his hands around the binder, and then slowly let it fall back on the table.  “Guys”, he said, “I want to take a brief diversion.  It may change the course of your recommendation”.  Great, I thought.  We did all of this careful work, and the CEO had been holding out some important information we should have considered.  But we did our homework.   We had open access to everything.  What else could there be?

The CEO’s eyes focused carefully on each of us in this moment of silence that seemed to last 15 minutes, and then spoke strongly and slowly...“I have decided to resign”.

Separate from our work, the CEO had realized the Organization needed to go in a direction he was not prepared or interested to lead.  His self assessment of his skills, his passions, and his own personal goals made it clear to him it was time for a change.

The meeting took an obvious turn, and the CEO was correct.  Throughout the next 45 minutes, he was able to predict almost every recommendation and path our Teams had decided upon.  The plan met his approval, but with his imminent departure, there was now an additional step required to make it succeed.

As we drove away together, I was still a bit shocked.  One of the issues Vince and I struggled with, was a concern about the CEO being able to successfully lead this new venture.  But how did he know?  Vince asked me if I still had the envelope he gave me.  I reached into my crowded briefcase and there it was, still sealed.  I carefully slid my pen under the glued seal and tore it open.  Inside was one piece of yellow legal pad paper, tri-folded.  I opened the page and there were three words printed in Vince’s handwriting.  “He will resign”.

“What?  How?  How did you know?”  I immediately thought the two of them had colluded, speaking secretly behind me.  Vince said, “I just have this ability to connect the dots.  I can’t explain how, or why, but I see things coming together very quickly and over the years, I have been correct most of the time”. 

I reminded myself that Vince was himself a retired President, CEO, and Board Chair of several very successful organizations. “But how did the CEO know” I asked?  

This CEO is a remarkable Leader.  On one hand he knows the organization, and the business very well.  All the research and data we collected and analyzed, he either knew previously or sensed.  While he sees the successes and achievements, he also lives with daily stress, roadblocks, and frustrations.  Think about the number of balls he is juggling at one time.  But most importantly, he has a wonderful ability to focus.  He takes all of these details and visionary trends both big and small, and like puzzle pieces, fits them all into the big picture.  

On the other hand, he knows himself.  He knows his strengths.  But most importantly he understands his weaknesses.  And in the end, he knows when it is time to walk away, and look for the next challenge he will passionately pursue towards success.

It’s like connecting the dots I asked?  “Yes...It’s just like connecting the dots...the correct dots.”

These are two Leaders who can accept and promote the ambiguity of leadership.  They can connect the dots, and put all the pieces together into the puzzle.  But most of all, as a Rare Leader™, they also instill this into their Team.

1. Who do you follow that can “connect the dots”?
2. What does it mean to “connect the dots”?
3. Where can you see “connecting the dots” as a leadership behavior?
4. When will you begin to “connect the dots”?
5. How can “connecting the dots” help you Lead?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Help me...I’m Multi-Tasking Multi Tasks!

If you are near to my age, or as Florence Dusty might say, a “baker of my generation”,  multi-tasking has a distinct meaning.  When you hear someone say they are multi-tasking, you think of a list of several “to-do’s” that you focus on today.  Or multi-tasking might also mean doing two things at once, such as Florence baking muffins and doing laundry at the same time.  The other day at my desk, I was on the phone, and with my headset on, I was able to pack my briefcase and walk to my car.  Yes, that was multi-tasking too.

Multi tasking takes on several skills applied simultaneously. but admittedly drains the ability to focus.  If I am really listening to my caller, am I remembering everything I needed to put into my briefcase?  Or if my briefcase gets organized well, am I actually listening to my caller?

This older generation of mine grew up in a pretty focused, single dimension world.  Today’s leaders developed their craft in a world of singular focus, working face to face with customers and employees, creating quiet time to read thick documents, while staffers helped with administrative tasks such as dictation, meeting set up, filing, answering phones, and guarding the door.  It made my doing more than one task at the same time a bit easier.  As I left a meeting, my secretary would hand me the file for my next appointment, and brief me on a phone call she fielded, while reminding me of my lunch appointment downstairs.  As she recited these 6-7 updates, I was glancing at the file summary note and walking at the same time.  Yessss, That was multi tasking refined.  I was like a well oiled machine, until Becky took a day off.  Then I was lost and multi tasking came to a halt.  Actually, single tasking became difficult too.

I was visiting a client a few months ago and touring their beautiful new headquarters.  As I left his office and walked away from the executive suite, his secretary reminded him of his lunch appointment and told him of an important message in his voice mail box.  He bristled a bit and when the elevator doors closed, he grumbled something about “so much to do”.

When the doors opened, we were on the second floor.  He chuckled and said “welcome to the experiment”.  This “experiment” was a floor designed completely by the employees.  There were no private offices.  The only private rooms were in the center core.  They were labeled with names of people, places, and things, and organized either traditionally, or quite eclectically for small private discussions, or larger group gatherings.  There were a few very small workstations scattered through out the floor.  But the remainder of the floor was furnished with couches, bag chairs, benches, and heavy wooden tables. And yes, there was a pool table and a ping pong table too.  Some areas were lit brightly and lively with a large screen tv, and others were tucked away with warmer colors and quiet music.  Instead of the old bun coffee maker next to the refrigerator, there was a professional quality espresso press, and a mini juice bar.  

But I was more taken back by the employees themselves.  Working alone, or working in small groups, the floor was really alive.  I first watched a younger woman sitting in a comfortable lounge chair, with her ear buds tucked in, watching the large screen television, and chatting away with a friend while clicking away on her laptop.  At a nearby table, three people were engaged in a conversation while focused on their laptop screens, sipping good latte’s.  In one of the quiet areas it looked as if one person was actually napping.  In an inner core room, two young children were working on what appeared to be home work from their grade school.  Employees were coming and going.  But it was alive.  My friend explained this floor was designed by employees who pledged that if they could design a workspace fitting their culture, they would be more effective, happier, and engaged.  He said the early results were very exciting.  

I don’t know how they do it he said, but that first younger woman is one of our accounts payable employees.  While listening to itunes, and watching TMZ, she was auditing a payables ledger with her partner from compliance.  The three Latte sippers, were also video linked to a few branch offices, conducting a training session.  Yes, one person was napping, because he had come into work after a good evening out with friends, and it made better sense to get some work done rather than drive home and back again a few hours later.  Now he was catching up prior to a presentation.  The grade schoolers were studying until mom an dad could leave work.  It was easier than going to day care, and mom and dad were right there on the same floor, working but able to check in on their kids.  

“Somehow”, he said, “this whole thing works.  I can’t seem to do two things at once without my privacy and a secretary, but they are able to thrive while multi-tasking multi tasks.  These are among our most successful and highest potential employees”.

Managing this type of workforce, and world of work requires a new set of skills for today’s Rare Leader™.  The fact is, younger workers who will carry the success you have envisioned work differently than you do.  They have been developed, and have found the ability to adapt with technology and relationships to do more things at the same time.  Juggling several things at once actually drives them to more productivity.  While this new machine can work effectively under new updated conditions, it still requires leadership.  

The Rare Leader™ of this workforce of today’s generation must accept and promote a Tolerance for Ambiguity.  The Rare Leader™ shows others the ability to handle stress, disappointment, roadblocks, and frustrations at the same time as juggling lots of balls while maintaining focus.  She can view micro and macro and how these details fit into the big picture.  But most of all, this Rare Leader™ can instill this into their Team.

1. Who do you know that can multi-task multi tasks?
2. What do you do to help you understand today’s multi taskers?
3. Where can you observe and learn this style of ambiguity?
4. When can you begin to add more “balls in the air”?
5. How will you begin to move from Florence Dusty’s generation to the more ambiguous generation of “multi tasking multi tasks”?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.