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Archive for June, 2015
Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of June 29th
June 29, 2015 | No Comments »
We are excited to celebrate the milestone of sharing 365 morning coffee posts! We have officially written a leadership reflection for every day of the year. We hope you have enjoyed sharing in these with us.
Mining a Deep Vein of Gold
Leadership capacity is buried deep within us all and this capacity is highly diversified. Capacity is like a deep vein of gold that, to someday reach the surface and expose its excellence, must be slowly mined and gradually summoned. Some people are early bloomers; their leadership ability emerges quickly and breaks through when relatively young. Others are late bloomers, needing time, seasoning, and extended travel down the path to reveal their excellence. Unfortunately, much leadership training today ignores this truth, and ignores this great diversity in capacity and growth timelines. We incorrectly view everyone as on the same timetable and same glide scope. We must mine each vein of leadership capacity differently, depending on the readiness of the person. Therefore, we must create the conditions under which greatly diverse leaders can emerge and flourish. This is not so different than a gardener who carefully cultivates the soil allowing many different varieties to flourish.
Hope and Humility
If I read all of these daily leadership reflections, now numbering nearly 365, and listed all of the maxims reflected throughout, it would be easy for someone to say, “Look at our modern world; most of what you extol hardly exists in reality.” Yes, it may seem so. We extol honor but too often we see bankrupt behavior. We speak of responsibility and accountability yet find few stories of it on the evening news. We point to grit and resiliency as foundations of lasting excellence yet see so many falling pray to instant gratification and a thin culture of self esteem. So I am left with hope, even when there are so many examples contrary to what I hope for. I hope that having a clear sense of ideals still matters. I hope that standing somewhat against the modern tide is not only necessary but helpful in reminding me that excellence is never really lost, but at times, just needs reawakening. And with this hope I find growing within me a deeper sense of humility. Hoping yet not fully knowing. Do the best we can, with what we are given, and towards the task at hand. Semper Fidelis. The rest is in Someone else’s hands.
Turning Around
Because this is the 365th reflection in this series I thought I would contemplate the “one big thing” I’ve learned so far. Here it is: Turning around. When I look at everything I believe to be true about life and leadership, I cannot escape the insight that development follows this timeless pattern: We leave home (our comfort zone), move inward to conquer our limitations, and then outward to engage the world in community, hopefully transformed and better able to serve. It seems life, no matter how you parse it, follows this path of growth, failure, and rebirth. Or as others describe it: advance, retreat, advance. Life and leadership development never follow a neat, linear, or straight line. The journey is a lifecycle requiring constant turning around; conversion periods where we both let go of our old self while simultaneously adopting a wiser, better self. This turning around doesn’t happen once but repeatedly through life. We must move down, and break open, to then rise up and outwards to higher realms of excellence. We must first move down, to then gain great height later. And so I conclude again; heroes are made, not born.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!
Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of June 22nd
June 22, 2015 | No Comments »
Choices
Watch the nightly news and its easy to become cynical about our modern world. Lots of problems, chaos, strife, and confusion in terms of standards of behavior. What is the answer to this modern maelstrom? Choices. When we choose well, our choice redeems both our own lives and redeems the path of those we lead. Yes, we can and often do drift off course. The question therefore isn’t, “Why did this happen?” The question is: what better choices can I make now to redeem the path? If our personal behavior and attitude are the problem, then choose better. If our group’s performance and behavior are the problem, then demand they choose better. Standards and accountability. When we look at history we see the fatefulness of choices ripple throughout time. Lincoln, MLK, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, or young Malala Yousafzai; their choices redeemed themselves and redeemed their groups. We are often on the wrong path, but there is always time to get back on the right path if we choose well. The path can be lost, but it can also be redeemed.
Going In, Moving Out
A cornerstone principle in my leadership philosophy is the paramountcy of self leadership. We can only lead others when we’ve learned to lead ourselves. We must first sculpt inner character and a moral foundation before we can resonate with others. Thus, the first crucial movement in leadership is inward; going deep within ourselves to develop character and excellence. And though going inward is the necessary first move, it is not the final end state. To become wise and significant we must next move outward and upward–into community. Why? Because it is in community, in shared ethos, where the fullness of our character, the steel of our will, and our moral texture is made. Once we have cultivated self mastery we must then find a place in community to pull us towards commitment to something beyond ourselves. Only communities can do this because they provide a way to find communion with others. Great leaders move inward first, but then move outward, and upward. They reorient themselves to higher purpose, elevated meaning, and ultimately, to significance within the context of community.
Neither Expedient Nor Assured
If not careful, we can adopt a fatal flaw in perceiving leadership that goes like this: I am, therefore I lead. Some mistakenly believe that if they hold a position, title, or rank, that attainment itself will confer and convey leadership. On the surface, maybe. In affect, hardly. Here’s a brutally honest truth of gaining leadership excellence: It is neither expedient nor assured. Greatness–true and lasting excellence–defies instant gratification or any guarantee of success. Why is this insight so important? Because it teaches us the timeless wisdom of the journey; that each person must be willing to work hard, persevere, apply grit and determination, and remain resolute in purpose. We’d like to think we can somehow avoid this hard path, hoping technology will alleviate the crucible of tests and trials. Yet no matter how much we may try to truncate the path, the path prevails and teaches us again its timeless lesson: Becoming a great leader may be our destination, but the journey is our destiny. Greatness is never free, inescapable, or decreed. It is earned through earnestness to the task at hand and faithfulness to the course before us.
Mentors
They guide.
They inspire.
They teach.
They coach.
They listen.
They advise.
They counsel.
They lead.
That is all.
That is everything.
Things That Don’t Get Lost
The older I get and the longer I lead, the more I cherish things that don’t get lost.
- Camaraderie.
- Companionship.
- Esprit.
- Mutual Affection.
- Soulful bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood.
We may lose touch with those we once led or followed, but we are forever united in our shared memories.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!
Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of June 15th
June 15, 2015 | No Comments »
Trigger Moments
At times in life we’ll find ourselves mired in ruts; plateaus of growth where we feel more victim than captain of our destiny. I’ve had several of these plateaus in my life where I was in a state of doldrums marked by stagnation and slump. But in each of these doldrums, break out occurred only when I reawakened to a trigger moment; a catalytic spark inside me when, after long periods of feeling a lack of internal agency, I then rediscover it. These trigger moments, as far as I can tell, occur when we reawaken our motivation and the internal criteria by which we want to lead our lives. When we lack this inner criteria we move into the doldrums and drift sideways. When we rediscover our agency a positive wind fills our sails and we move more purposely toward the horizon. Why is this important? Everyone will find themselves in the doldrums; that’s a fact. The key is to break out and to know the breakout will always be a mysterious combination of personal agency and grace. The trigger moments are not automatic; we must push ourselves forward to find and ultimately harness the wind.
M2
When working out yesterday a fellow gym rat asked me what I thought it took to become a premier athlete. I contemplated this for a moment and answered: Mindset and Means. M2. A truly great athlete has both the proper mindset (optimism, focus, determination, grit) coupled with the means to excel (practice, opportunity, and experience). The same is true of great leaders, who also must learn to master M2. Great leaders constantly work on their mental paradigm while simultaneously seeing every day, and every moment, as a chance to hone their craft. This insight is very important for all of us because it helps us understand how best to cultivate leaders; we must attend to both elements—mindset and means. All of our leadership training and development should intentionally combine activities intended to nurture and strengthen our leadership mindset while also exposing us to opportunities ripe with experiences calling forth excellence. Like a great boxer, leadership excellence is defined both inside and outside the ring.
Submitting to Excellence
When we think of true championship performance, whether in business, sports, or academics, we often try to measure the difference between good or great in terms of costs. We seek tangible measures, things we can readily point to. I think this can be somewhat misleading, for though I do agree there are elements of excellence which can be quantified, the deeper, and ultimately more crucial elements to greatness, cannot. Excellence is not something we procure at cost, it is, in the final analysis, something we submit to. Only until individuals and the collective group willingly submit to excellence will champions and heroic ambition emerge. And we submit by acknowledging a purpose beyond our self, and equally, by bowing to a meaning greater than self. Excellence is not a matter of counting the cost; it is arriving at a state of mind where we strive, and sacrifice, without counting the cost.
Commitment
A growing characteristic of our modern world is what I call Opportunity Mania. Due to technology and the hyper-connectivity it affords, many people are increasingly bombarded with endless choices and options. Not bad, per se; but we have to wonder if, in the pursuit of endless choices, we are losing our appreciation for commitment? When we become mired in opportunity mania we become attracted to the endless choices; it’s like an opiate. But in truth we may never actually make a choice and commit. We like the stimulation of the choices. Excellence, as far as I can discern, involves hard choices and yes—commitment. Greatness comes when we move from a fragmentary life into a committed and cohesive one. We must move from opportunity mania—the constant hopping from one lily pad to another—to a life of fidelity, purpose, and meaning. The goal is not mindless choices, but rather, choosing, and choosing well. I believe greatness is born not of endless opportunities, but from actually closing off some of the mindless opportunities and actually committing to something larger than self.
Better Than You Used to Be
It’s easy to get confused in terms of leadership development. There’s so much information available now; so many choices. So I thought; how can we simplify the goal of leadership development? Here’s my answer: Be better than you used to be. That short and crisp objective contains all the basic elements of significance. First, the focus of getting better is put squarely on our shoulders. We need to be accountable for our development, our behavior, and our attitude. Second, the goal is not a final destination, but a process. “Be better” implies we must keep being better; day by day, activity by activity, encounter by encounter. Third, this goal cautions us to not get comfortable with status quo. Getting better suggests self awareness, grit, determination, and accountability. Finally, this goal reminds us that character development and excellence are slowly imprinted. Development simply takes time and is often imperceptible. Want a leadership goal? Be better than you used to be.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!
Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of June 8th
June 8, 2015 | No Comments »
Deep Imprints
When I reflect on my character development, I realize much of my inner cultivation was imprinted on me through key mentors in my life and via rigorous experiences. This tells me character, and interior depth, are imprinted slowly and incrementally over time. We’d like to think we can study our way to character excellence; this is why book shelves are saturated with self-help literature and “Top 10” lists. Sounds good, but in reality, excellence doesn’t work that way. Yes, throughout our lives we want to be good right away. We want expediency and the quick fix. That’s human. But the character growth and excellence we ultimately attain, in truth, come about by gradual imprinting, much like pressure and heat slowly form a diamond within coal. And interestingly, the diamond cannot form without the pressure and heat. Rigor, experience, tests and trials; these are all necessary to imprint character and to carve deep deposits of excellence within ourselves. Excellence, it seems, is cultivated only this way.
Why Ideals Matter
In the age of the “Selfie” we are increasingly falling victim to a paradigm David Brooks calls The Big Me. Today it appears we’ve turned the lens almost exclusively towards us, which leads to thin perspectives and almost no timeless patterns. When the lens is turned towards us we gain only a sense of our private and limited needs and our growing appetite for self-gratification. In the past, people were taught to train their lens outward to capture broader vistas, wider themes, and larger parades of meaning. When our lens is turned outward we gain a sense of transcendent ideals and we gain an unambiguous definition of high standards of excellence. Are people less moral today than yesterday? No. But I think a case could be made that today we lack timeless ideals, and thus, our standards may be wrong. Without an appreciation for timeless ideals, we don’t know what greatness looks like. And when we don’t know what excellence looks like, we don’t aspire to, or hold ourselves accountable for, those things. In order to do what is right, we have to know what right looks like. We must start to turn our lens outward and away from The Big Me.
The Box
We are all challenged daily by what I call The Box. Here’s what I mean. As leaders we are asked to think and live outside the box; have a vision for the future, depict compelling end states, plan succession, and strive to leave a legacy. This essentially heads-up orientation is the necessary state of the leader; looking forward and pulling us towards the horizon. However, if all we do is think and live outside the box, well, pretty soon our box will begin to deteriorate if no one is living inside the box. This is the realm of the manager–focused on today, with a heads-down orientation, ensuring the mechanisms, processes, and procedures catalyzing production are in high repair. This balance between leading outside the box while managing inside the box is tough; however, when done well, great things happen. If we get out of balance, we get into trouble. Too much leadership and too little management creates unrealized dreams. Too little leadership and too much management creates rigidity and ultimately, atrophy. Great leaders are equally great managers, and over time they learn to coexist both inside and outside the box.
An Inheritance
When I reflect back on the two most influential experiences shaping my professional life, sports and the Marine Corps, I wondered: What was it that touched me so deeply and made me feel such fidelity to my companions? What caused within me a conversion to slowly think less of myself and more of others? God knows it wasn’t me alone; I was your typical self-absorbed and immature youth. I think the reason was this: In these two experiences, sports and the Corps, I was called on to sacrifice, and strive, shoulder-to-shoulder with other people. And it was through this crucible of sacrifice, of giving one’s all for something selfless, which created within me a sense of covenant with my team. I began to sense I had been given something of deep intrinsic value earned by those who had gone before. And through this covenant I knew I had been given a special inheritance; a boon meant to be passed on to others. When we are given such inheritances we become debtors to those who helped us, and the only way to repay those who helped us, is to pay it forward to others who will follow us.
Companions
It is not lost on me that the terms company and companion share the same root. But in our modern world and workplace, many things are conspiring to ignore the timeless truth that excellence emerges mostly through bonds of mutual affection. There is no doubt we can, and increasingly do, exploit technology to create workplaces mostly devoid of close, personal engagement. Telecommuting, outsourcing, warrens of walled-off cubicles, and oceans of emails and chats. Efficient? Maybe. Effective in terms of creating companionship and camaraderie? Doubtful. Here’s what I know for a fact, though like most qualities of excellence it would be hard for me to fully quantify: When we purposefully cultivate companionship through bonding and real shoulder-to-shoulder interaction, the line between giving and getting vanishes. The distinction between you and me is eliminated. The wall between yesterday and tomorrow falls. We become fused. And interestingly, in groups animated by deep companionship, it actually feels better to give than to get. Leaders must first grow great companions, to then create great companies.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!
Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of June 1st
June 1, 2015 | No Comments »
Service
What do you need to do?
Do what needs doing!
The Paradox of Character
When we think of our growth as leaders we tend to focus on happiness. We dream of who we may be someday, what we might achieve, and the roles and titles we may earn. And thus we seek ways to get this happiness. But here’s the paradox: When I look back over the arc of my life, I find the opposite to be true. The events shaping me most were often those that broke me. It was the ordeal–the tests and trials—that was most profound in etching my character and forming my nature. Isn’t that interesting; we aim for happy, yet we end up being formed most by failure and sacrifice. The pursuit of happiness doesn’t form our character; the experience of, and conversion through, sacrifice and grit, does. It seems to me that pursuing happiness leads only to temporary satisfaction, whereas the experience of sacrificing for some deeper purpose, and surviving the crucible of the pursuit, is the real road to depth of character. Timeless truths are often paradoxical, and such is the case with character: The road to depth is not smooth, but rugged.
Breaking Bread
A great team, whether in sports or the workplace, is experienced by its members as a community. Every excellent organization I’ve been part of felt like the close-knit neighborhood of my youth; deeply personal, alive with camaraderie, and rich in mutual affection. Which got me thinking: How does this feeling of community arise? I think it is cultivated through shared sacrifice towards common purpose, shared peak experiences, and the regular celebrating of kindred feelings. We bond deeply when we strive together and when we celebrate this striving through breaking bread together. Yes; eating and drinking in a social setting. When we gather to eat and drink together, there is formed a quality of relating far deeper, and more robust, than mere casual workplace relations. This insight is crucial for leaders, because leaders must intentionally create conditions allowing for shared purpose and common sacrifice for higher ends, and then the cultivation of mutual affection through breaking bread. Much goodness comes at the dining table, and deep bonds grow over the sharing of food and a cold pint.
Universal Truths
I am often asked why I use mythology, history, parable, and classic hero tales in my leadership teaching. I do so because this method helps me understand universal truths of life and leading. Throughout recorded human history, and regardless of time or culture, humans have told the story of development, growth, and transformation essentially the same way. Yes, each culture dresses its heroes in unique costumes and calls them unique names, but the basic theme of the hero path is the same. When we see this pattern we begin to understand this key insight: all problems are essentially the same problems. Understood correctly as metaphor, we can see Lincoln in Odysseus; Martin Luther King in Theseus; modern politicians falling from grace like Icarus; or the common hero path walked by Gandhi and Aung San Suu Kyi, though separated by many decades, gender, and race. Universal truths revealed through specific cases. And why is this important to us? Because heroic tales of timeless excellence can raise our spirits, and elevate our ambitions, even today.
Check back next Monday for a round up of this week’s social media shares. Or check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or Pinterest to see our posts every day!