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Tip of the Spear Ventures

Venture Capital | Business Transformation Consulting

leadership development

The Leadership Challenge: Pollyannaish

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The Point: You want to have a positive outlook… I want to have a positive outlook… I think we ALL want to have a positive outlook! But is that positive outlook actually doing more harm than good for you? In this post, we’ll take a look at The Leadership Challenge Pollyannaish to determine if it’s actually working for the good, or if it’s acting as evil in your leadership development… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge: Pollyannaish

Blinded by Optimism

I was introduced to the “Pity Parade” concept about a decade ago. This concept goes something like “it’s easier to be down in the dumps, as opposed to upbeat and optimistic.” If you ever notice, or took the time to count just how many people are down as opposed to up, you’d quickly surmise that the ratio is about 10:1 (Down:Up). That’s a pretty staggering quantity… So why are there so many people choosing (It is a choice after all to determine your attitude) to be down?

The reason so many people prefer to be down, or negative, is that it is simply far easier. If it takes less muscles in the human face to smile as opposed to frown (43 to frown while only 17 to smile – Check it out for yourself at http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/muscles-smile.htm), why put in the extra effort to be negative. The choice (again, it’s a choice!) is that while the initial effort/energy might be greater, the long-run follow-up effort/energy is, well, effortless. You will expend far fewer calories as a leader being negative. Being positive strains your leadership muscles and causes you in the initial moments to exert additional effort/energy as well as in the long-run. So this is why the “Pity Parade” has so many members in it… and it’s a long parade!

Menander vs. Marcus

Let’s go back in time to see if leadership “Pollyannaish” tendencies are dictated by human history… All the way back to around 150 AD. Picture a world very different from the one today (What, no iPhones? Tragedy!) A world ruled by the Roman Empire, stretching for nearly 75% of the known world. A world run by Roman Emperors and in this time period the great Marcus Aurelius. The backbone of this empire some could argue came from the philosophical lessons handed down from the Greeks. One such Greek was none other than Menander. Now Menander was a sort of Steven Spielberg meets Saturday Night Live of his time, and is the best known representative of Athenian New Comedy (He penned 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia Festival 8 times – something akin to the Oscars I would imagine).

Menander was known for his quick wit, and captured many a stinging quote in his work. One such capture consisted of the quote “So surrounded by good things was he…” which allowed the audience member to fill in the blank regarding exactly what it was that our hero in the work had regarding choices to be made. It was in this Pollyannaish moment that we can realize that when everything is going right, perhaps there is some major wrong taking place! To the rescue comes our Emperor (Marcus Aurelius)! He quickly quips back regarding this line “So surrounded by good things was he… That he didn’t have a place to take a sh!t!” (Of course this is a relative translation and loose interpretation, but you get the point). This must have caused some sort of Pity Parade to form… Do you think there were those whispering ‘memento mori’ (remember you are mortal) to one another in the parade? Me thinketh not…

Pollyannaish for Good or Evil?

So the leadership challenge of being Pollyannaish is staring you right in the face… What are you going to do? How are you going to behave? Week in and week out I see leaders struggling to maintain composure and control of their operations. At the heart of this struggle is their attitude… The attitude that they have 100% control over! They choose whether or not to be positive or negative, and it’s often in these choice-trenches that they win or lose the business war for the day, the week, or their careers.

One of my favorite lines or questions in conducting a conversation, be it a consulting engagement, a coaching conversation, or just a mere acquaintance conversation to align around a topic is to ask “Are you up for an observation?” Surprisingly, I’ve never had anyone say “No” to my request! Perhaps because it is a level-reset opportunity, or the truth is staring both of us in the face, but my intentions are to share something for the good. My experience has shared with me that because just so many of us dwell in the negative that a good moment shared just might establish the trajectory of the day, week or career.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve taken a look at the leadership challenge Pollyannaish. Remember, being negative is easy. Strive for the hard leadership moment of being positive, while not forgetting to simultaneously be cautiously optimistic and you will set a tone/pace in the much better positive direction for your organization, your stakeholders, and yourself!

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge: Leadership Secret Sauce – 3 Tips!

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The Point: If you’ve read the 455,000,000 results from a Google search on Leadership, then you are undoubtedly super informed regarding what it takes to be a leader. But what if you haven’t read them all, half, or even 12 in the last year regarding what you could do to take your leadership to the next level? We all want to get ahead, and the concept of “secret sauce” is akin to key differentiators whether it be in a startup offering of climbing your way up the corporate ladder. So in this post we look at the leadership challenge leadership secret sauce and provide 3 tips to kick things up a notch… Enjoy (and BAM!)

The Leadership Challenge- Leadership Secret Sauce – 3 Tips!

I Don’t Like Spicy Food (or Leaders)

We’re all looking for that competitive edge that separates us from the pack. If that’s the hypothesis (and why wouldn’t it be true?), then what exactly are those differentiating moments? In a startup situation, differentiating moments are typically referred to as the “secret sauce.” Think of it as what you plan on doing better/different than others in the space, improving upon those that are already there, or how you will rise above all others to be the top choice.

So what if you combine the experiences from startup operations with those of a leader. Specifically, how do you overcome the leadership challenge of having to differentiate yourself on a day in/day out basis? Is possessing leadership secret sauce the key? In researching the topic, I found that the answer is that a leader can definitely differentiate themselves with such secret sauce. But how much to apply and in what strength can be in one vein a strength and in a similar other vein a weakness. Too strong a secret sauce and you come off as overbearing/overpowering. Too little secret sauce and you risk being perceived as shallow/half-hearted. So here are 3 leadership secret sauce tips to insure that you apply just the right amount:

Leadership Secret Sauce Tip #3 – To Thine Own Self Be True

We see a lot of stakeholders vying for leadership roles that take on a persona that is totally foreign to who they truly are. While there is always one aspect of an admired leader that you can take away/attempt to implement, you still need to be yourself.

Leadership Secret Sauce Tip #2 – Communication Skills Training for Leaders

While it might seem obvious, there has to be consistent application of communication skills training for leaders. You may find that honing your skills once was good enough, but you’ll be falling far short of your potential. The continual honing of your communication skills as a leader will differentiate you!

Leadership Secret Sauce Tip #1 – Succession Planning

Now why would I be recommending that a high potential (HiPo) attempt to assist with succession planning? The reality is that those in their jobs today will not be in their jobs 10 years from now, and someone has to fill them! Assisting with succession planning, or at least beginning to formulate a plan regarding where you’d like to go/positions you’d like to fill will come in handy (Especially when you discuss with a mentor!)

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve looked at the leadership challenge leadership secret sauce and 3 tips to assist you in driving your career forward.

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge: Expertise – 5 Tips!

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The Point: What are you good at? If you’re like most of the leaders I work with, you’re probably “good” at a lot of things… For example Sales/Marketing Leadership, Customer Experience, Project Management, and Process Improvement might be several areas that might make your leadership performance highlight reel. But what are you great at? In this post, we take a look at the leadership challenge expertise as well as 5 tips for your leadership development… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge- Expertise – 5 Tips!

The Rich Get Richer

The other day I found myself in a leadership development executive coaching conversation. Not atypical from most other business days, but this one was somewhat precarious for several reasons. For starters, the setting between coach and coachee was at the onset of our business relationship. As such, an initial assessment (think of it as a “line in the sand” leadership development moment) was due.

As the assessment began, I could tell that the leader was extremely comfortable and confident. After all, why wouldn’t he be? He recently had successfully exited from a public sale of his company, and as a result had untold wealth accumulated/sitting in a bank account. On top of that success he built an app for a popular social media platform that was driving considerable wealth towards him. “Poor guy” I thought, “I hope he can catch a break someday!”

From Good to Great as a Leader

So as we began our leadership development executive coaching assessment, I asked a question that stopped the conversation in its tracks. What was the question? Here it is:

“What are you the best in the World at?”

The leader thought about his answer for what could be considered an uncomfortable length of time which felt like 10-minutes (but in reality was more like 2-minutes).

His answer was his own, and all I’ll share with you was that it was EXTREMELY powerful. In a few sentences he was able to capture the essence of his success as a business man, family man, and leader in both capacities. It was a difference between being simply “good” and being “great” in all capacities. At the heart of all of this was his expertise. So here are 5 tips you can leverage to overcome the leadership challenge expertise moments you face as a leader:

Expertise Tip #5 – Focus

What are you the best at and why? If you’re focus is all over the board, you’ll drive little success in potentially a lot of places. However, maximum impact as a leader can be achieved if you focus in specific areas.

Expertise Tip #4 – Change

If you want to focus (Tip #5 above) on a specific are, be it a skill set or business segment, you’ll have to identify realistically where you are on the topic and where you need to be in order to achieve expert level. You’ll then need to change towards that expert level designation (I know, easier said than done!)

Expertise Tip #3 – Enlist Support

The saying “It’s lonely at the top” is appropriate for most leaders. Surrounded by pc-correct stakeholders not looking to “rock the boat” or answer “Yes” to requests is unfortunately typical in most organizations. While this ego-stroking capacity isn’t without its merits, it also doesn’t propel you to think/act at your best level. As such, you should look to enlist support (perhaps from an executive coach?)

Expertise Tip #2 – Take Action

Marshall Goldsmith in his recent book “Triggers” says that most leaders are great planners (think strategy session or action plans) but horrible doers! In other words, coming up with the plan isn’t the hard part… The hard part is in taking action. Again, an executive coach should be able to help keep you on-time/on-target.

Expertise Tip #1 – Don’t Stop Learning

You might have noticed that the world changes pretty fast. As such, you’ll want to enact a 12-18 month plan where you calendar specific dates/times to continue your expertise learning journey on a weekly basis. Don’t get left behind as a leader!

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve explored the leadership challenge expertise and provided 5 tips for you as a leader. If the road to expert level is paved with over 10,000 steps (or hours), we’d better get started!

 

Sam Palazzolo

Is He Keeping You Up at Night?

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At Tip of the Spear, we see all types of Leaders from the Fortune 500, INC500, Deloitte Tech Fast 500, and beyond enter into our leadership development executive coaching programs. Sometimes they come because they are looking to increase their percentagel of potential achieved… Other times they come because he is keeping them up at night (a Leadership nightmare!) Seriously, here are a few other reasons they come:

  • They want to enhance their leadership skills/abilities by looking within themselves to see how far they can go with our Tip of the Spear Behavior Based Coaching
  • They’re looking to involve their fellow employees in their rise to the top through ourMarshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching offering
  • They are considered high-potentials (HiPos) by their organization, with a keen eye on the future in exploring our Tip of the Spear Leadership Development Programs
  • They’re looking to go beyond business plateaus, and/or push through to the next level with our Leadership Advisory Boards

Risk Free_Blue

Regardless of why leaders come to us, we help them focus on what really matters:

RESULTS!

If you’re interested in achieving more results, in less time, you should strategically partner with us. Put our proven scientific method, that’s 100% guaranteed, to the test. Begin by filling in the form to the right with your email address, call us at 855.97SPEAR | 855.977.732Seven, or send us an email to sales[at]tipofthespearventures.com to get started.

 

So is he keeping you up at night? Let’s work together so we can get some sleep!

Is He Keeping You Up at Night?

The Leadership Challenge: Criticism – 5 Tips!

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The Point: Call it “constructive” or call it “transparent” criticism, but have you ever had a conversation with a stakeholder at work regarding how things could have gone better? If so, you’ve probably dipped a toe or two into the constructive criticism pond. So as a leader, how can you navigate such moments maintaining a results focus and positive atmosphere? The following post looks at criticism and provides 5 leadership tips to be successful… Enjoy!

Are You Leading at the Tip of the Spear?

He Didn’t Take “Constructive” Criticism Well… Understatement!

Joe was a mid-level manager at a Fortune 1000 organization that participated in one of our leadership development executive coaching programs. He barely made the requirements for the high potential initiative, and as such struggled with several of the program topics. In particular, he struggled with the Communication Skills Training for Leaders topic, where on more than one occasion he became flustered with the content.

It was after one such “flustered” moments that we pulled him aside to share our perspective on his performance. Here’s how the conversation went:

  • US – “Joe, we wanted to touch base to see how you thought things were going?”
  • JOE – “Everything is going fine.”
  • US – “Interesting… Is there anything in the last section on Communication Skills Training for Leaders that you felt you could have improved on?”
  • JOE – “What? Improved on… I don’t think you can mess with perfection!”
  • US – “But if you could improve on perfection, because there are always opportunities to improve, what would you have done differently?”
  • JOE – “This is Bull Sh!t!”

And after that exchange Joe stormed off…

Constructive Criticism

Joe set the tone for a poor feedback improvement setting by believing that everything was fine, and that there could be no learning to improve moments to be had. While nothing said was hostile nor belligerent in nature, taking things out of context is often one of the biggest issues with receiving constructive criticism. So here are 5 tips to help you as a leader position your feedback sessions for greater success (and avoid those Joe-moments!):

Criticism Tip #5 – Your First Reaction is Wrong, so Stop!

When you give or receive feedback, it’s important to frame the conversation appropriately so that you provide the proper context. Doing so will allow you to set the stage for a good conversation (and conversely not doing so will set the stage for a bad conversation!) I encourage leaders to spell out how information shared is often taken wrong, so let’s talk about it as a part of pre-calling the actual comments. Establishing this expectation is a great way to insure constructive criticism is received as intended.

Criticism Tip #4 – Feedback is Beneficial

Why are you providing feedback? This is an important question to ask yourself. If your goal is to provide it to better an individual, realign them around organizational goals, and/or establish a different direction on project management for example then share those benefits. Otherwise, recipients will be left to their own devices (i.e., imagination) which may not produce intended outcomes.

Criticism Tip #3 – Prepare to Listen

There are three sides to every story… Our side, their side, and the truth. Insuring that you know all three sides helps in creating constructive criticism moments. The key of course is for you to listen to the other sides story. While you may have all the facts, some of the facts presented may not be ones of a high importance to you.

Criticism Tip #2 –Thank You!

I’ve heard it said that feedback, whether it’s in the form of constructive criticism or a customer survey, is a gift. Whether you agree or not, take it for what it is and remind yourself and others that the proper response is to say “Thank You!” Leave your defensiveness/rebuttal/excuses at the door.

Criticism Tip #1 – Follow Up

Once you provide or receive constructive criticism, it’s important to set a date/time to follow up to insure that what was discussed is (1) understood, (2) put into action, and (3) proper direction is once again established. I see in executive coaching sessions way too often a leaders inability to following up which causes tremendous heart ache for all parities. Know that saying thing one time and expecting everything to change as a result forever more is never a good leadership moments (It’s just not realistic, right?)

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve taken a look at the leadership challenge of criticism as well as 5 tips to help you either provide/receive constructive criticism. Let’s face it, these can be crucial conversations consisting of pain for both parties. However, the crucial conversation part comes from the fact that it is crucial to have them in order to progress forward.

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge- Criticism – 5 Tips!