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The Leadership Challenge: Frustration – 5 Tips

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The Point: One of my clients said it best during the week – “Business is a series of roadblocks that erect themselves between you and success. The quicker you get above/under/around those roadblocks the sooner you’ll achieve success!” These roadblocks can be major, or minor, moments of frustration. So how exactly do you get to the other side as quick as possible? In this post, we’ll take a look at leadership frustration as well as 5 tips to orient yourself for success… Enjoy!

Are You Leading at the Tip of the Spear?

It’s Not You

If it’s Friday again (and it will be each week from here on out!), then no doubt another leadership frustration opportunity presented itself during the week. Here are a few of my own leadership frustration moments from this past week:

  • Short Again! – Each week I conduct a weekly review. In this weekly review, I review what I set out to accomplish in the previous week, progress/regress made, reasons for success/failure, and ultimately outline next week’s goals. Inevitably, I attempt to “bight off” more than I can possibly accomplish (or chew). “Aim high” is my motto… However results can be sometimes far from successfully achieving.
  • Damn You Delta! – Another week and this road warrior booked another 3,000 miles in the air (I’d still be driving in case your wondering!) Flights outbound were as scheduled, however the return was a totally different matter ESPECIALLY the final leg where Delta delayed my return flight by nearly an hour and a half. Out of my control thanks to fog in Seattle, but frustrating nonetheless.
  • I’m Too Busy! – One of the leaders I work with was far from achieving a level of success that he established for himself. The reason for not measuring up to his key performance indicators? He was too busy. Too busy… Can you believe that! My whole dealing with this leader had me asking myself if this was a “true” change initiative, or a “thinking about” change initiative.
  • Poor Communication! – If I’ve said it once, I’ve repeated myself a million times… If you can’t communicate clearly as a leader, those you’re leading (and probably to a large degree yourself included) will have a difficult time following. Communication skills training for leaders is one thing, but not implementing and executing those lessons is another.
  • Bureaucracy! – I worked for some of the most heavily bureaucratic organizations on the planet, yet I’m always amazed at how even though this proven practice of business has been deemed “undesirable” by most leaders/their organizations somehow these conditions still persist! Congratulations for holding on to a dying tradition that should be left in the past.

5 Leadership Tips for Dealing with Frustration

So as a leader, we all deal with frustration. While misery loves company, why not be in pursuit of ways in which we can overcome such moments? As such, the following 5 leadership tips for dealing with frustration come from my 500+ leadership development executive coaching conversations:

Leadership Frustration Tip #5: Run Towards Frustration

I know you’re probably thinking “Run towards frustration… Sam have you lost your mind?” But hear me out… If you attack those moments of frustration rather than react you’ll drive change faster.

Leadership Frustration Tip #4: Engage Others

Piggy-backing off of Tip #5, while running towards frustration remember that you are not alone in this leadership journey. Engaging others to drive towards solution via change will help others experience your pain, drive better solutions in less time, and assist with implementation.

Leadership Frustration Tip #3: Stay Focused

Dealing with frustration is, well, frustrating. You’re going to want to sweep the moment under the leadership rug for cleaning later. But I’ll encourage you to stay focused in the moment and beyond until sufficient cleaning has occurred for you/your stakeholders to be successful.

Leadership Frustration Tip #2: Take Frustration Personally

One of the leadership development executive coaching sessions I had during the week was with a leader that kept repeating the phrase “It’s business… It’s not personal.” Well guess what? Everything in business as a leader is personal!

Leadership Frustration Tip #1: Accept and Change

I don’t want to go all Eminem on you and tell you that you only have one shot to prove yourself and succeed so you should lose yourself in the moment, but I think he was on to something. If you want less frustration moments in the future you should look to accept them right here and now. Changing business processes and personnel could be in the cards, but your mentality and attitude regarding changing will orient you appropriately.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve taken a look at the leadership challenge of frustration and provided 5 tips. Just as life isn’t perfect, neither is leadership. However, in moments of frustration true character arises. What will be your character that rises to the top? Will it be something you’re proud of today, tomorrow, and years down the road? How you deal with frustration (and believe me, there will be very frustrating moments the higher you move in an organization!) will determine much of your success.

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge- Frustration - 5 Tips

The Leadership Challenge: Head Trash – 7 Tips to Crush Your Inner Critic

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The Point: If all of the world is a stage, then there are endless opportunities for critics to critique your every leadership move. But what if the critic is inside your head? What if the world’s biggest critic of you is… You? In this post, we’ll take a look at the concept of Head Trash and provide 7 Tips to crush your inner critic… Enjoy!

Are You Leading at the Tip of the Spear?

I’m Gonna Knock You Out!

LL Cool J might have rapped such a phrase about knocking someone out after his mother told him to do so, and you may very well agree that this is the shortest route as a leader to getting the results you want. However, unless you want to go “Fight Club” and put up with all those rules (There are 8… Can you guess #4? Hint: Tina Turner sang about it at Thunderdome), you’re going to have to first and foremost control yourself.

Most of the leaders I work with in leadership development settings where executive coaching sessions are conducted are well into controlling themselves. Controlling others might be there issue, but keep in mind that they are masters at self-control. The concept of “Head Trash” is that little voice inside your head that tells you that you are not worthy of accomplishing whatever it is you’ve established as a goal for yourself. If head trash moments were presented by someone other than yourself, you’d probably want to use that line by LL and his mom! So how do we quiet or eliminate that voice from taking us off track and risking leadership loser status? The following 7 Tips have been compiled from my executive coaching sessions with 500+ leaders.

Head Trash Tip #7 – Environment

I’m often amazed at success that is accomplished by the leaders I work with as an executive coach. Well after their initial leadership development moment, they seem to succeed in spite of their environment. What if the environment you worked in was optimally conducive to producing your best work output? Would you achieve more? You might…

Head Trash Tip #6 – Awareness

If you have an optimal environment to lead in, you just might not recognize it as such (Part of the reason I “hedged” on Tip #7’s success potential!) If you want to quiet that inner voice, try being fully present in the moment. Which moment? Every moment is important as a leader (Sorry, this is the equivalent to a “D – All the Above” answer!)

Head Trash Tip #5 – Vision

Do you know where you are going? Do you have purpose? If you answered “Yes” to both questions so far you at least have the vision to get their. So if that’s the case, why not envision yourself being in that place reaping all the rewards that place has to offer. Visualization as part of Vision is what every leader needs to be able to practice (and share with their Stakeholders).

Head Trash Tip #4 – Forget

I wrote a post about leaders and their ability to forget… It’s crucial that a leader have a certain degree of amnesia whereby yesterday’s mistakes are just that… Yesterday! In the past, nothing you can do about them, long-long-long gone.

Head Trash Tip #3 – Align

There’s probably someone in your “inner circle” that you know and more importantly trust with your inner/darkest/deepest secrets. Entrust in that person where you want to go. When the going gets tough, outreach to that person “in case of emergency” for them to remind you of where you are going for alignment.

Head Trash Tip #2 – Breath

I’m often amazed at how little breathing takes place in the C-Suite. I’m not talking about the metabolic automatic breathing that each of us participates in 12-20 times per minute, I’m talking about the big/deep breath that fills your lungs with air caused by your diaphragm pulling down. These deep breaths provide oxygen to your blood, a delay in your decision making process, and an added freshness to your being.

Head Trash Tip #1 – Get a Rock

I have to admit… I had “Head Trash” pretty bad about a decade ago. I’ve always prided myself on my work ethic/output, but always seemed to work for someone that liked taking credit for both. As such, I was rarely rewarded for my efforts and in return developed a pretty “snarky” inner conversation. A few years ago I worked with an Executive Coach that told me what I was doing, but like all good head trash participants I retorted that he must not know what he was talking about. After watching myself struggle, then fail, and struggle again I realized that he must be on to something. We worked on developing someone that would come in like a superhero and crush these head trash moments. Let’s see… someone really big, strong, and superhero-like was needed… The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) was the first person I thought of. To this day whenever I have a head trash moment I think of that conversation with my executive coach and The Rock appears to crush my inner critic. Maybe he can help you too?

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve taken a look at the concept known as Head Trash and provided 7 Tips to help you crush your inner critique.

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge- Head Trash – 7 Tips to Calm Your Inner Critique

PS – You may enjoy several of the other posts I’ve recently written:

The Leadership Challenge: Bruising Company Culture (Like @Amazon.com)

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The Point: Company culture defines what the organization stands for, who the employees work for, and how a customer base can expect to be interacted with. But perhaps all companies are not as they appear to be in public, and especially at surface level. In a scary similarity to the thought that “no one truly knows what goes on behind closed doors,” ex-Amazon employees are coming out telling of a bruised company culture consisting of backstabbing, belligerence, and bogus expectations. In this post, we’ll take a look at how Silicon Valley Sweethearts might not be so “sweet” for their employee stakeholders… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge- Bruising Company Culture (Like @Amazon.com)

It Was Only A Matter Of Time

When Frederick Taylor fine-tuned the principle’s of his Scientific Management theories in the 19th century, little was known about the efficiencies that could be had in manufacturing operations specifically when it came to the human dynamics interaction. In other words, how exactly would/could you inject human capital into a manufacturing environment so as to maximize production and minimize the impact people have.

So is it really any surprise that we learn this weekend from the New York Times article titled “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace” that the impact of people is once again being approached with little regard? When considering that Taylor in efforts to minimize the human impact on manufacturing went so far as to write detailed job-instructions on cards to be followed fastidiously without fail, why would Amazon’s culture of back-stabbing and “purposeful Darwinism” surprise? If anything, the report should lead one to instead ask “What took you so long?”

Company Culture is Created/Driven from the Top

I had a conversation with one of the leadership development program executive coaching participants. In this conversation, we discussed the concept on leaders leading. In other words, as a leader you have the responsibility to not only set direction, but pace in how that direction is accomplished. “Leaders leading” is a concept I heard of during my time working with the Executive Coaching program at the University of Texas.

So if as a leader you are leading, and setting said pace towards directed outcomes, why then is there such a “surprise” by Amazon leadership when it comes to the aforementioned articles accusations? Establishing change requires an organization to be not only in sync, but all parties collaborating in efforts moving forward. Similar to a snake making its way through a savannah, if the head isn’t pointed in the right direction goal attainment will not be accomplished. However, the tail becomes obsolete/replaceable. If a snake’s tail gets injured/damaged/chopped or chewed off, another will grow back.

The Organizational Snake?

So is your organization snake-like in its characteristics, with leadership at the head and stakeholders at the tail? Amazon’s Human Resources describes how they try to reconcile the sometimes-punishing aspects of the Amazon-workplace with what many called its “thrilling power” to create. When a recruiter at Amazon justifies turnover/employee fit problems by saying “This is a company that strives to do really big, innovative, groundbreaking things, and those things aren’t easy” could this be codeword for “As an associate here, know that you will be pushed/poked/prodded to the breaking point… Only the strong will survive!” it makes me wonder?

Amazon Prime

In the end, as a consumer of the Amazon-production-machine, I can honestly say that I love it! I love ordering books, clothing, and even food (I ordered a bag of “Double Bubble” bubble gum once for a company outing) from Amazon. Perhaps this article attempted to position Amazon as a “blood diamond” like place to work (low on ethics/moral fiber/humanitarian moments), but either way isn’t that what we love about shopping on line there?

If in Amazon’s bruising company culture they push the limits of internet retailing to new heights, don’t we benefit as consumers of their product? Inherent in all this is that we somehow/somewhere know that perhaps all is not “fine” within the walls of Amazon for their employees. But is this really that different from the minimum wage employee at McDonald’s that serves us our food? I’d love to believe that Amazon is like Google as depicted in “The Internship” with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson… But somehow I know it’s not!

SUMMARY

In this post, we took a look at Amazon’s bruising company culture and the leadership challenge within, several leadership development executive coaching moments, and the consumer applications associated with prime choice.

 

Sam Palazzolo

 

PS – You may enjoy several of the other posts I’ve recently written:

 

Are You a Leader Like Mars, Roman God of War? 5 Tips!

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The Point: What if you thought “bigger” than you typically do? I mean, when you tend to aim are you aiming high or too low? If you’re like most of the leaders I work with, you are aiming too low (That might be one of the reasons we’re talking, right?) In this post, we’ll take a look at aiming super high as a leader… So high that you would be considered a leadership God for all to worship! Sounds pretty good right, so read on and identify how you can put the 5 Tips into play for yourself… Enjoy!

Are You Leading at the Tip of the Spear?

I’m a Good Leader!

So you think you’re a “good” leader? What makes you come to that conclusion? Is it because you went to the best schools (So you’re book smart)? Is it possibly because of the results you’ve been able to accomplish in your career (So practical experience)? Perhaps it’s a combination of both schooling in-classroom and mean-streets?

Regardless of where you are on your leadership journey (and it is a definite journey), you probably recognize that the learning is not now or never finished. With changes in economic, market, and employee conditions you’ll have to stay on your tippy-toes if you want to succeed. But just how good a leader are you?

I Want to be Like Mars (Sorry Mike!)

Leaders that I work with in a leadership development and/or executive coaching capacity typically have me as them “If you could be any leader, who would you be?” The natural series of follow up questions includes identifying what is it about that leader that you’d like to emulate and why. So here’s my leader of choice: Mars (The Roman God).

Here are a few of Mars’ Resume Highlights:

  • God of War
  • One of the Most Prominent and Worshipped Gods
  • God of Spring, Growth in Nature, and Fertility
  • Son of Jupiter and Juno
  • Father of Romulus and Remus
  • Romans Style Themselves ‘Sons of Mars’
  • The Male Symbol is Named After Him Representing His Spear/Shield
  • The Month of March is Named After Him

5 Tips to be a Leadership God Like Mars

I’ve done my fair share of research on Mars and here are 5 tips to be a better leader (perhaps God-like if you will):

Tip #5: Destroy everything in your path between where you are now and the goal you want.

Tip #4: Never be without your tools of the trade (For Mars these were his spear and shield).

Tip #3: If you lead others by rolling up your sleeves others will follow you… Consider this leading at the tip of the spear!

Tip #2: There is no place like home, so expand your empire!

Tip #1: Find your true love and your strategic purpose will reveal itself (For Mars it was Venus… Yes, that Venus!)

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve looked at Mars, Roman God of War and provided five tips to help you lead like him. You want to be the best leader possible, you’re going to have to aim higher, think bigger, and act. Now that you know a little about Mars, what’s stopping you?

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge: Competitive Advantage – 5 Tips!

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The Point: I met with a leader during the week who was competitive to say the least (Make that extremely competitive!) In their drive to succeed, they often overlooked their individual purpose, the potential of their organization’s stakeholders, and the “bigger” picture of where their organization fit into the market that they seemed to dominate. Perhaps a good thing? Probably accompanied by many potential bad things though. In this post, we’ll take a look at harnessing the power of competitive advantage as a leader along with five tips to align directionally for success… Enjoy!

Are You Leading at the Tip of the Spear?

Go… Fight… Win!

It’s been said that business is war. In order to accomplish victory in such “battles” it’s important to keep in mind not only what will be gained in such moments, but also what very well might be lost. John was a small mid-cap sized organizational C-Suite leader. Appearing to be in control of the majority of his faculties, he set out a strategic vision during one of our leadership development executive coaching sessions.

“If we execute this plan, our competition will look to strike here” he commented drawing out what appeared to be a marketing battle map on a scratch pad. “If they strike here we’ll have them exactly where we want them… Weak!” While these were grandiose plans (and why aim small and miss small when you can aim big and miss big!), he lacked the perspective of other organizational leaders and stakeholders. The fight had been fought without single action step being taken, and John was claiming victory.

Competitive Advantage

The leadership challenge faced in this example is one that has many facets. So let’s see if we can’t break them down by offering five (5) tips for competitive advantage:

Tip #5 – Innovation

There’s no doubt that you’ve read a lot lately about innovation and its role in organizational domination. “Innovate or perish” seems to be a captivating mantra. However, what does innovation truly look like, and more importantly who is supposed to be doing all this innovation? The bottom line is that in order for competitive advantage to take place someone/somewhere within the walls of the organization had better be planning/developing what’s next.

Tip #4 – Engagement

Similar in leadership popularity to innovation is the concept of engagement. Leadership as well as stakeholders engagement level not only sets the tone for competitive advantage, but accompanying pace as well.

Tip #3 – Inefficiencies

How are you/your organization measuring your efficiencies? If you have a key performance indicator (KPI) dashboard that insures that you are approaching targets on-time (and modify course accordingly when off), then you have a leg-up on your competition that might believe they are measuring like-kind indicators but are lacking the “key” components.

Tip #2 – Learning Leaders/Organizations

The key to Tip #3 – Inefficiencies lies in your ability to learn as a leader as well as an organization. While success breeds more success, there is an often misunderstood component regarding what lessons can be learned from moments of failure. Learning from both provides competitive advantages.

Tip #1 – Tools

Do you/your stakeholders have the right data, and perhaps most important are they equipped to take action on what they learn? If so, you have properly equipped yourself/your stakeholders with the tools for competitive advantage. Without these tools (out of date, broken, and/or nonexistent) and you’ll be at a competitive disadvantage.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve looked at the leadership challenge of competitive advantage and five tips regarding how you can seize such moments so as to continue to progress down successful paths as a leader. Leadership development and executive coaching provides a framework to explore such opportunities, but implementation/execution/sustainment initiatives play a crucial role in the battle for future success.

 

Sam Palazzolo