Senior Leaders, Cheap Talk, & Being Present

"Culture is to recruiting, as product is to marketing."
- Hubspot's Culture Code

Culture, Culture, Culture
The word culture sure gets thrown around a lot, don't you think? For me, it's right up there with values. If I hear one more executive espouse their organization's values, without taking action to prove they matter, I think I might spit.

Every organization obviously has a culture. However, many organizations do not have the culture they claim, or they secretly know in their "heart" that theirs has unlimited room for improvement.

If we all know these things, claim our employees are our most valuable asset, and continue to preach our culture message over and over yet still have major gaps relative to reality, what is the missing piece?

All You Do To Me is Talk Talk
For many leaders, landing that big title or breaking into the executive ranks feels like the end of a long journey, when in fact, it is only the beginning. They often feel as if they can ramble on and on simply because they must be the smartest person in the room, just look at their title!

Think of leaders as the six players on a hockey team during a game. 

Six players, but twenty-thousand fans staring at them...watching every move...hoping for good decisions, and the effort to back up what they say when they are off the ice.

It's the same for us in leadership. There are only a few of us compared to all of the employees who work in our companies. 

They are watching every move...hoping for good decisions, and the effort to back up what we say during meeting after meeting after meeting.

Are you with me?

How About You
Words are incredibly powerful tools for leaders. They inspire, motivate, encourage, reward, hold accountable, recognize and fire up the people around them. But in the absence of action...or follow through...

...the words damage the credibility of that leader. 

It's time to back up the culture talk with culture ACTION!

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.

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We Who Are About To Die (from your noise)

I've recently made a breakthrough...of sorts. It turns out that despite all the different kinds of people in the world, there are actually only two types of leaders. It wasn't a research study that I stumbled upon that opened my eyes. It wasn't a fascinating journal article that raised my level of awareness. Nor was it some ancient text that was discovered in a far off land.

I learned this from experiencing the same behavior over and over, and I could no longer deny the truth.

Talk

One of the most important skills leaders must possess is the ability to influence others with their words. Inspiring those around us, motivating our teams, and supporting our own leadership team is a core competency for the contemporary leader.

There is a significant risk however at only being a skilled communicator, let alone someone who throws around the latest jargon but clearly has no idea what they're talking about.

Execution

We all recognize those leaders that are not able to move from talking...and planning...and talking some more...

...with those leaders that demand action.

Planning appropriately, and following that plan is always the best path. However, the balance point between planning and paralysis can be a fine one. The action oriented leaders sometimes need to push across that line in order to maintain momentum.

"If there is no momentum, there is no execution. If there is no execution, there is simply no need for that leader."

Noise

For those leaders that can not move from words to action the result is a swirling cauldron of noise. Noise damages credibility. Noise forces team members to critically examine if they can still believe in that leader.

Noise kills.

The secret sauce of leadership if finding the balance point between words that inspire action, and the ability to make decisions to ensure momentum and execution.

How About You

Do you find every excuse in the book to avoid leading? You may think "following up with your team" or "looking into that issue" is part of leading.

Well, you're wrong. That's not leading at all. That's actually killing the rest of us.

Don't be that person. Lead the way instead.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.

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Not Enough

It's not enough to want it.

It's not enough to think about it.

Even if you think about it every day.

It's not enough to talk about it.

It's not enough to hope for it.

Even if you hope for it every day.

It's not enough to wish for it.

It's not enough to pray for it.

Even if you pray for it every day.

It's not enough to plan for it.

It's not enough to long for it.

Even if you long for it every day.

It's only enough when you do something about it.

Maybe today is that day.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.

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