Observation
What matters is not always obvious, you have to work at shaping it.
“Not everything that can be counted counts,
and not everything that counts can be counted”
Albert Einstein
Theoretical Physicist
Two of my clients are in particularly privileged positions. Both have their ideal role, they are great at it, they don’t hanker for anything else (this role will be their last) and they are more financially secure than they thought they would ever be.
I am pleased for them. It is a wonderful position to be in and as a result they are free to focus on what they think is important.
What has been fascinating is what they have chosen to make matter:
There is an uncanny parallel between the two of them as they have chosen to focus on:
Actively managing their mind set – giving themselves permission to enjoy what they do.
Doing what they enjoy and doing it often – which also, not surprisingly correlates with what they are good at. The challenge is to then let others do the rest, not abdicating but delegating.
Being the leader, they want to be – after thirty years they know what is needed, they also know what they bring to the party. What is now different is that they are pushing the boundaries in ‘being themselves’. It is the best form of authentic leadership.
Good luck if you want to try and measure; mind set, enjoyment or authentic leadership ……… and yet they may just be the very things that mean these two impressive leaders end their career on a real high.
I do hope so.
Challenge
“Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world.
He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.”
Albert Einstein (he must have been a pretty clever chap!)
Recently I was working with an Investment Management client who introduced me to this quote that I had not come across before.
Not only does it make sense financially, but for me it also resonates strongly as a piece of leadership wisdom.
How often have we seen the leadership challenges of the day; diversity, digitalisation, colleague engagement et al, approached as if there is one big solution which will solve the problem and then when it doesn’t, the organisation moves on to the next big solution.
The much harder, but almost certainly more effective route, is to set the direction of travel and then keep plugging away at improvements which build on the progress of the past and overtime create real value and advantage.
In other words, the leadership equivalent of relying on compound interest rather than the 3.30 at Kempton.
Practical Action
“The most common weakness of business leaders is not
taking the time to think about their role as leaders.”
Alistair Turner
Leadership Coach
It is a bold statement but one that I believe to be true. In a way it is good news for me because at its simplest, coaching forces leaders to take the time to reflect and act on their leadership.
However, if you can’t afford a great coach, here is a summary of a thought provoking McKinsey article (apologies to my family members who work for Bain & Co) :
Corporate strategy : Focus on beating the odd
Organisational alignment : Manage performance and organisational health
Team and processes : Put dynamics ahead of mechanics
Board Engagement : Help directors help the business
External stakeholders : Centre on the ‘Why?’
Personal working norms : Do what only you can do.
I suspect few leaders would argue with the list on the left. Every leader does these things one way or another. It is the stuff on the right that is hard and requires you to think about how you shape your leadership role.
A good place to start would be to take the time to read the article and think through the ‘so what?’ for yourself.
I suspect the good leaders will find the space and environment to do this, the weaker leaders, if they read it at all, will fit it in as yet another task to be done, probably on their tube trip home.
So, my advice is – go get a glass of wine and read it properly!
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I’ll be back with my next blog in July.
As we move into a post Covid (sort of) I am moving to a quarterly rhythm, but you can always visit my previous blogs and thoughts on leadership here.
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