Callan…Coffee…Contemplation for the Week of May 19th
Nothing for Nothing
Today I am reflecting on this question: As leaders, what brings us great satisfaction and gratitude? I think this is a particularly important question to contemplate because we live in a society coveting instant gratification and easy answers. I keep coming back to this answer: People don’t ultimately respect anything they get for nothing. Anything we get easily or without personal sacrifice becomes a chimera, and ultimately, an illusion. What history seems to teach us (consider the basic theme of all hero tales) is this timeless truth: true satisfaction and gratitude are only discovered once we’ve paid our dues. Privileges, rights, and entitlements, to be properly understood and maturely governed, must first be earned. If these entitlements are given freely, they actually become destructive. To build heroic, responsible, and wise character, one’s character must first be tested. It is like metal that emerges from a cauldron. There is no other way, it seems. So, we must re-learn this necessary lesson: We will never respect nothing we get for nothing.
Bound Up
How can leaders today create a feeling of being bound up to something that is deeply inspiring for the groups we lead? How can leaders create faithfulness and elevation in our vocations? I offer four ideas. First, Create Meaning. Our minds are drawn to reason, but our souls are drawn to meaning. Second, Instill Ethos. A healthy ethos answers for its members these three crucial questions: Who are we? Why do we exist? What do we do? Third, Celebrate Traditions. Healthy traditions, rituals, and rites get us out of our heads and into our hearts—where all true greatness resides. And fourth, Teach Greater Patterns. Return to simplicity and see greater patterns of wisdom and excellence. Leaders must create the conditions of fidelity and companionship. This is soul work, not head work. This is cultivation, not engineering. This is hard, intentional, deeply personal work. But when leaders do this well, magic happens.
Master Your Space
I am often asked, “what is the most important thing I can do as an emerging leader?” My answer: Master your space! I believe this answer reveals two timeless truths of great leadership: One, great leadership ultimately rests on self leadership; and second, the scope of leadership challenge is not what ultimately counts, it is the consistency and quality of the response, even in the smallest things. Master your space places a clear obligation on the individual leader to be accountable. Wherever one lands, that is one’s space to lead, develop, cultivate, and foster. The scope of responsibility really doesn’t matter; what matters most is being accountable for that space and for everything that happens within that space, good or bad. When we hold ourselves accountable to mastering our space, we place healthy demands upon ourselves. We need a place of accountable community; a home plate to touch each day and remind us of our obligations. It is one thing to believe in excellence, it is far more important to be accountable for being excellent. Master your space.
Positive Example
A frequent question I’m asked is this: “How should one deal with a senior leader, or organizational climate, that is bad/weak/negative?” The human tendency when confronted with a less-than-stellar leader or climate is to rail against the weakness we perceive. Let’s be honest…sometimes is just feels good to vent and demonize. But if we are also honest, we must admit that any time we take on negative energy frontally, and directly, a destructive thing happens: we end up absorbing the negative energy and become negative ourselves. Instead of solving the problem, we actually infect ourselves, and those around us, with toxic and corrosive energy. A wiser and more effective approach is to attack negativity indirectly. How so? By calmly and quietly modeling the excellence you wish to see. It sounds trite to say it this way, but I find this to be axiomatic: The best correction of the bad is the modeling of the better. In this way, one’s positive example becomes an alternative–a new path. And if modeled consistently, this positive energy can create the momentum to actually change the environment.
Side by Side
Today I am reflecting on companionship and camaraderie. I am contemplating this: what is it that develops deep bonds of mutual affection, fidelity, and unity to a degree that far surpasses basic workplace familiarity? In my experience, it is mutual sacrifice, elevated and transcendent meaning, and here’s the final and most interesting part: toiling together in pursuit of a grand ambition. I truly believe we cultivate true companionship, such as I experienced as a US Marine, when we walk side-by-side with those we serve. For men in particular, it seems the alchemy of real bonding occurs much more prominently in doing rather than in talking. There is something magical that happens when people physically walk, run, or strive side-by-side, toiling and persevering towards a distant and challenging objective. This bonding affect is true in sports and the military, and can be replicated in boardrooms and offices if we create opportunities for people to toil physically, side by side. This arm-to-arm bonding produces a kind of rare companionship found in great organizations.
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