I have read and reread Jim Collins book ‘Good to Great’. The information that he presented regarding the Intersection of Three Circles is a very novel idea for a business.

For those of you who have not read this book… (please do), here are the basics of the Hedgehog concept
I feel lucky when I get to…
Identify something that you have God given talent (or genetically encoded) for…
And, I can make money doing…

Now you may notice that I have put a personal spin on the above versus having a business spin. Well that was on purpose.

If you take the above three items and write down on a separate piece of paper the answer to each of those questions… you will start learning something about yourself.

Heck ask your friends or business colleagues to add to each of the lists.

After time for reflection on what you wrote down on each list. Try to craft a position, a job, and even more importantly, a life around the intersection of those three questions.

You will be good at your job, you will like your job… and heck you will even get paid for it!

Additional steps to becoming a great leader are coming…

Recently I was challenged by Don to simply say ‘Thank You’ when someone gives me a compliment.

He told me that he has heard me on numerous occasions that I always try to defer the compliment by giving a bunch of reasons why I was NOT the reason nor deserving of the compliment.

For example, I was helping a team improve the overall yield (how much material was made correctly from the raw materials).  I provided consulting to the team and even some engineering at times.  I acted as the leader when needed but I really tried to make sure that each member of the team had a chance to flex their leadership muscle so that they could develop into great leaders.

The compliment I received was ‘We could not have made that improvement without your services.”

My original response was “Thank you but… it really was the team that made it happen.  They worked long hours and attacked the goal head-on…”, etc.

I really believe that the team was the reason.  Yes, I did help but no more than anyone else on the team.

Don’s coaching comments were “You don’t let people give you compliments and feel good about giving you a compliment.  You always have a reason on why it is not you.  Break this habit.”

So for the last couple weeks, I have been taking compliments and only saying “Thank you’ with no caveats or if’s and but’s.  It has been hard.

Thanks Don for helping me develop into a leader.

As previously mentioned, we have assessments that help you understand what your values are.  Remember that values are the reasons why you do the thing you do.

For example, some people may grow roses to sell them whereas other people grow them for the beautification of their garden.  Two different values - utilitarian (money) and aesthetics (beauty).

Sometimes a client will ask - ‘Can will my values change over time?’

My answer to this is:  NO.

To be honest, I still have a hard time believing this answer.

But my own data proved me wrong.  Here is some background into my story.

Over the last ten years, I have taken this Values assessment a total of five times.  I do it about every other year (secretly hoping that it would change.)  During these past ten years, I have had three kids, worked in four different jobs, moved two times, had a parent die, completed an executive MBA, and oh yeah - had cancer.

So, I figured that there would be some sort of change in my values.  Personally, I thought that my values would shift more to a ‘family’ basis given all of the turmoil that I have been through in the last ten years.  It did not happen.  There was no statistically significant difference in the results.

Now, I guess one could say that the assessment is somehow flawed.  It does not actually measure what it should measure.  Well, considering that the results that I have received are dead nuts on and have been for the last ten years.  I can’t really say that is the case.

In addition, I have had many close people to me validate the results.  They say - Yes that is you.

I am certain that every rule has its exception.  But I am not that exception.

You need to understand what your values (and what your employee’s values) are so that you can put the right plans in place to develop yourself and develop them.  Knowing their values will give you some hints on how to motivate these people.

Interested in a Value’s Assessment?  Drop me an email at michael (at) informedleaders (dot) com

Someone asked me to give them the silver bullet for becoming a great leader. Well here it is…

• Know yourself - understand your strengths and weaknesses. Capitalize on your strengths and find someone that can help you with your weaknesses.
• Prioritize what it is truly important (this can be in life, work, or whatever you are working on) with solid reasoning (data really helps in this area!)
• Know how to communicate to all different styles of people (you need to be the one to adapt) your vision so that you can be held accountable by them and you can hold them accountable.
• Develop a metric to gage your progress
• Be consistent with all of the above.

You don’t have to be glamorous. You don’t have to be brilliant. You don’t have to be a political tyrant.

You just do those things above… and you will be able to lead a team to greatness.

That’s how easy it is.

Don’t agree… please add some comments.

Are some people leaders and others not?

There have been many debates on whether leadership is learned or just an integral part of a person.

I would suggest that anyone can be a leader. It just depends upon the area that they have passion.

For example, you may see someone as a leader at your church, but in their job, they are a quiet performer who gets their job done. They don’t want to take the leadership position at work.

Sit down and list the areas where you have a passion.

Know thyself.

I was recently brought in to help put together a Process Improvement Plan for an employee of a solid people manager. This employee was easy going and well liked however, his performance was not meeting expectations.

Having worked closely with this manager for many years, I was very surprised why he was having trouble putting together the plan and why he asked me to come in.

His basic response was…
I just can not figure this guy out. His lack of performance is actually keeping me awake at night. He knows what needs to be done. I sit down with him on a monthly basis to set priorities and expectations. Yet he still fails to get them done. I just can not believe that he does not see the problem. I am actually scared that he does not see this coming.

So I asked…
What has his performance reviews been like? Have you told him how you felt.

The reply…
I hit him pretty hard during the last performance review. I think I wrote a novel about his ‘misses’. I gave him very concrete examples and very specific expectations for performance. This conversation should not be a surprise to him.

So isn’t this the natural progression - I asked.

Unfortunately it is. He replied.

Last question…
Do you feel that you have been true to yourself and tried everything you could to help the person? And it sounds like you have been honest with him… right?

Yes.

Then there is little choice.

Now imagine in your case, how hard it would be if you had not collected all of the data, all of the conversations, and all of the feedback… it would have been a surprise. Bottom line the person did this to himself.

Help him… but he has to have to will to get it done. This employee has not embraced knowing himself (strengths and weaknesses.)

Sad.

Knowing yourself is the first step in your personal Leadership Development.

I don’t like to use data to make decisions.

This was a surprise to many of my co-workers.

Their comments back… All I ever hear you ask for is DATA. Or what does the data show us. Or it looks like we are going against the data that is staring us in the face. How can you not be DATA driven. That is all that you ever talk about… DATA.

Well… it comes back to accountability.

I know that if I set the expectation for people to use data. And I hold them accountable for using data… they will ultimately hold me accountable for the use of data.

Now you may be thinking about how does this relate to the use of a DISC profile.

Well… my DISC profile reinforced that using DATA was not one my strengths.

So… instead of ignoring this fault… I put a process improvement plan in place to defeat it.

Use the DISC profile to ‘Tell you something about Yourself’

You may be surprised on how you can improve yourself… if you just listen.

Again, knowing thyself if the key to your Leadership Development

After several months of promoting a situational leadership training series and building his business around this model (high performance work teams), one of his key leaders walked away from the program.

This person had been previously promoted to a position based upon his technical acumen and the ability to get things done. The manager felt that this employee would be perfect for the training series.

Unfortunately the manager was wrong.

So now this well respected employee just completely destroyed the credibility of the program.

Should the manager take the position away from the employee (considering their was an underlying assumption that was communicated to the employee about completing the leadership series) or does he just ignore the behavior and go with the continued results…

Value Decisions are the hardest one to make… especially when those decisions can have a short term negative impact on the business results.

Had a conversation with a Facility Manager the other day.

He told me he was in a hurry to get the areas cleaned up because the president of the company was coming to visit next week. I asked what was involved with this clean up method.

His reply was to paint a couple areas, remove some trash, etc. Nothing that cost too much.

He sort of explained like this…
You typically keep your house in order. But when you have the family over for the holiday dinner, you take it up a notch. That is what what we are doing here.

I next asked who would be meeting with the president. His comments were well the Staff of course.

Now here is where my challenge question…

How about letting one of your hourly workforce give the tour.

And now even the bigger item…
Don’t go on the tour.

If I was standing next to the Manager… I am sure that could have pushed him over with a feather.

Why as Managers are we so insecure with what our people are going to say?

Get over it. You may be able to fool the president the first time… but you are not going to fool him every time he comes. He is going to figure it out. So if you are trying to hide something… the only person that you are hiding anything from is yourself.

Share the glory with the hourly person. Let him boast about the great things happening in the facility.

He just may surprise you.

In addition, if you always kept this approach in the back of your mind, your approach, communication style, and direction may take a different (and better) approach.

From the times of the ancient Greeks to the more present day movie ‘The Matrix’

Know Thyself

is one of the first steps to becoming a great leader of people. Philosophers and Oracles have commented that is the only way to become ‘The One’. Ok let’s move on NEO…

You need to fully investigate yourself. You need to understand your strengths and more importantly your weaknesses. Yes, you have them. You are guarding your weaknesses like the crown jewel. You pretend that you can do everything. Face it you can’t. You will ultimately fail because you will get in over your head because you have convinced yourself you are rock star.

So back to knowing yourself…

The very first problem you are going to have is no one is going to be honest with you… especially your direct reports. They don’t trust you. They are going to think that you are setting them up for something.

So who can you ask… not your mother, not your spouse, heck not even your kids on bad days. You need to ask yourself the following types of questions.

• How do I act when a failure occurs in your project, your team’s project, etc…
• How do I act when someone just stole my idea?
• Or another classic… how do I act when your boss tells you to do something when you know its wrong.

Take 5 minutes right now and list your reaction to these things. Think about when you are really tired or aggravated… when you can’t put your smiley face on anymore. That’s you.

Are you really being honest with yourself? Can you handle the truth from an anonymous 360 review. Probably not. You are not ready to…

The great thing about the internet is you can be anonymous and start listing those weaknesses so that you can get them out in the open. That’s half the battle.

Once you see them written down… you can put a Leadership Development action plan together to fix them. I promise we will start slow with the tools.

Take 5 minutes… and complete the exercise. Heck, you can even use the comment section below if you don’t have paper and pen.