15 Years of Excuses

This blog turns 15 years old on Saturday.

After more than 1,000 posts I’ve been asking myself…is there anything left to say?

Then I look around…I listen to colleagues, friends and clients. 

I hear the struggles and see the stress they’re under to make a difference and lead through unbelievably difficult times. 

I see new leaders emerging each year who are trying to be relevant in the confusing and complicated world of work.

Is there anything left to say? 

Yes, indeed. There is so much more.

Cheers to the last 15 years…and to the many years ahead of holding ourselves accountable.

Thanks for being here.

Jay

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All at Once…All the Time

Leadership was the only option.

When I was young I couldn’t see myself being in any roles except leadership. I wasn’t entirely sure what that would look like, but I knew it was meant for me. And from the time I was young I seemed to end up in those roles, whether it was ‘with the boys’ or on a sports team or the various garage bands I played in.

As an adult, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to serve in leadership roles for more than 30 years. That makes me sound old, but candidly, I don’t feel it. Not yet anyway.

My youthful aspirations did not include the realities of leadership pressure to:

• Do it
• All the time
• All at once
• Manage the never-ending scrutiny
• Ignore the eyes of others always watching, and sometimes judging safely from a distance
• Achieve the future-state that is obvious at times yet requires so much patience
• Appreciate the tremendous satisfaction of seeing members of your team succeed when you know they’ve worked so hard to improve themselves

If we’re honest with each other, we place a tremendous amount of pressure on ourselves to do everything, all at the same time, every day.

I’m not sure that expectation makes sense. What do you think?

Back to it then.

Thanks for being here.

Jay

chit

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