Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of March 17th

The Leader as Learner – Part I

I often refer to leadership as a master craft, and heroic leaders as a master craftsman. I do this to remind myself that, like all other pursuits of mastery, leadership is a life-long journey in which we never stop honing our craft. Therefore, leaders should never think of themselves as a finished product; we must remain students of leadership, stay fully open to new knowledge, and seek wisdom by availing ourselves to a broad spectrum of experiences. When I reflect on heroic leaders of the past such as Lincoln, Jefferson, T.E. Lawrence, Churchill, and Gandhi to name a few, they all shared these two attributes in common: (1) An unquenchable curiosity, and (2) a bias for learning and understanding. Moreover, their curiosity and passion for learning never waned during their lives. They constantly renewed themselves, renovated their vision, and courageously converted themselves into more wise and effective leaders. When leaders personally model a passion for learning, they in turn create organizations with a similar passion to learn and grow—the true wellspring of enduring excellence.

The Leader as Learner – Part II

To effectively become students of leadership, and to grow as heroic leaders, we must embrace the crucial need to create quiet time and solitude to read, reflect, and discern. Our society often down plays the need for solitude because we erroneously equate busyness with productivity and effectiveness. We think: The busier we are, the more we must be getting done. Wrong! Busyness is a chimera, and being trapped in the chaos of busyness is the antithesis of great leadership. Great leaders, therefore, must discipline themselves to balance “to do” with “to learn.” In doing so, great leaders apportion time and energy to reading, learning, and thinking; they find a place of solitude to disengage from the work-a-day world; and they consider quiet time not only sacred but essential to remaining vital in their lives and in their leadership. Heroic leadership is a marathon, not a sprint; our objective is to be effective across time and to retain a consistent and dependable positive vitality across a broad arc of engagement.

The Leader as Cultivator – Part I

We’ve come to model organizational dynamics off an industrial model: Linear, production based, predictable. This is a faulty paradigm. Most organizations are more like ecosystems than industrial plants. Like ecosystems, most organizations are highly dynamic, multi-layered and multi-dimensional, have key thresholds and tipping points at the boundaries and core of the group, and are highly sensitive to internal and external changes. Seen as ecosystems, we then correctly understand one of our key leadership roles is that of cultivator. And there are two cultivation zones we must address. At the sub-surface zone lies ethos and cornerstone…the deep perennial knowledge, communal bonds, and non-negotiable principles linking generation to generation. The above-surface zone contains things like culture, climate, and atmosphere. Each of these zones must be intentionally cultivated, groomed, and tended by leaders with equal care and commitment. So goes the maxim that ancient cultivators knew so well that today it has become axiomatic: You reap what you sow.

The Leader as Cultivator – Part II

In the last post we discussed the reason why leaders must embrace the role of cultivator. Today, we’ll reflect on some of the characteristics of a well-cultivated group, be that a family, sports team, company, city, or society. Here are some characteristics I believe reflect a well, and perpetually cultivated, group:

Vibrant ethos
Unity of purpose and shared intent
Self-policed behavior
Shared and vigorously upheld standards
Attention to small details
Regularly celebrated customs, courtesies, and traditions
Esprit, elan, and companionship
Mutual affection and trust
Dependability and repeatability

Ethos – Part I

Ethos—a Greek word meaning “the character or essential spirit of a people”– remains for me the most important determinant of enduring organizational excellence. With a thriving ethos, organizations thrive, remain vibrant, and effectively pass knowledge from generation to generation. Without a thriving ethos, organizations atrophy, recede, and die. Therefore, a cardinal obligation of all leaders is to understand the ethos of their group, cultivate it within their sphere of influence, and create mechanisms to sustain it. When present, ethos puts us in accord with the world we live—it provides the necessary defining answers that tell us of who we are, why we exist, and what we do. Ethos provides continuity between past, present, and future–a guiding path for both the individual and the group. Like the root system of a healthy tree, a thriving ethos provides positive energy, elementary information, and coherence. And like water tiding to the moon, ethos pulls us out of our selfish, private worlds into the far more rewarding realm of group affiliation, obligation, and the greater patterns of excellence.

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