The End of the Beginning

This is a famous quote from one of my favorite periods in history. Winston Churchill said it in November 1942 at a time when the allies finally achieved some success against Germany.

“Now is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

In some ways, I feel that way about this blog.

Has this first phase of my leadership message run its course?

Is it time for a major pivot?

How deep do I go?

Is the messaging around leadership so overdone that it’s time for a more bold approach?

And, am I willing to be more vulnerable, and ask some of the hardest questions of myself and others?

We’ll see. I’d love your feedback on all of this. And until then…

Thanks for being here.

Jay

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I’m Just Asking

 Why is it so difficult to…

- voice our opinion when we know it isn’t the popular one?

- express our faith?

- say a kind word to a stranger?

- enjoy the moment?

- challenge racism when we hear it?

- drive change in our organizations even if we’re viewed as disruptive?

- be ourselves in all situations?

-  volunteer our time?

- acknowledge that mental health struggles are real?

- lead courageously?

- think beyond ourselves?

I’m just asking.

Thanks for being here.

Jay

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Checking In

About a year ago I was thinking about my struggles, my imposter syndrome voice that creeps in every once in a while, those around me that are probably experiencing the same self-doubt, or are generally going through episodes of struggle themselves.

I decided to do something about it, and started reaching out to check in on friends, colleagues, and in many cases people I haven’t met yet but have gotten to know through various social channels.

The goal was to reach out to at least one person each day, though I’ll admit I haven’t gone a full month yet intentionally checking in on someone consistently. However, I log my check ins as a sort of private accountability tracker, and it’s amazing to see how many times I’ve connected.

So despite the fact that I’ve failed to hit a daily goal, I have succeeded in connecting with many more people who wouldn’t have heard from me otherwise.

Some are going through public challenges. Others are struggling with very private issues that I happen to be aware of. Still others have shared subtle cues on their social networks which I’ve taken the risk to inquire about…and the flood of emotion comes out.

This process that I now hold close has given me far more than I believe I’ve done for others. For me, it is a way to live my faith without pressuring anyone about religion. It’s a way to take action instead of seeing one more “if only someone had reached out” posts. And most of all, isn’t that what friends and colleagues are supposed to do?

Who are you going to check in with today?

Thanks for being here.

Jay

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Still the Same

If you look back on the last five years of your career, ask yourself what has changed? The pandemic aside, ask what you’re doing differently today vs the past.

How have you upped your leadership style?

How do you focus differently?

What new priorities matter to you that weren’t on your radar five years ago?

Do you have fresh new goals that you didn’t consider previously?

Who matters most in your professional life now?

Growth, lifelong learning, and constantly challenging ourselves to be better is not only fun, it ensures that we do not become old and stale (regardless of our age.)

So today it’s all about a bit of reflection; and hopefully, new thinking for your future. 

Remember, you can never think big enough!

Thanks for being here.

Jay

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Greatest Strength = Greatest Weakness

Becoming self-aware is hard; and then elevating our self-awareness enough to appreciate, leverage, and act upon our strengths is a powerful leadership skill. 

I hate to break it to you though, we can’t be good at everything. Understanding how we can play to our unique skill set and move our organizations forward is what savvy leaders do. But there are risks.

Our strengths can become our leadership super powers…or something quite the opposite.

Our unwavering focus on ‘what we have convinced ourselves is the right thing to do’ can end up looking like we’re playing with corporate fire. Our strength of conviction, and blind commitment to taking chances based on those convictions can come at a high price.

The strengths that we’ve relied on for many years sometimes become a blind spot and morph into our greatest weakness.

So what is the message here? Do we simply ignore our vision for the future and settle into the morass of mediocrity that plagues so many executive teams?

Not at all.

The real challenge is to integrate humility into our self-awareness leadership style. Easy, right? I’m guessing the answer is no for most of us.

Balancing our vision and desire to make our organizations better with the reality that we can’t always make the right moves is difficult to internalize. Only the truly savvy leaders can pull this off.

Is that you?

Thanks for being here.

Jay

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