Envisioning your future self: According to Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert (@DanTGilbert), all of us are walking around with an illusion. An illusion that our personal history has just come to an end. That we have just recently become the people we were always meant to be and will be for the rest of our lives. In his unmissable TED talk (link here), he debunks these myths and uses science to demonstrate that we are always changing and will continue to do so. He summarizes it perfectly with the statement: “Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished.” This has interesting implications for the way we think about organizational, personal and team change initiatives. We need to unblock the limiting beliefs that hold us back, so we can reach our desired future self. So, as usual, I would encourage you to reflect on a few personal questions (they can easily be adapted to teams, or organisations). There are many interesting reflections but I would suggest starting with these 3 questions: 1. How would you describe your desired future self? 2. Based on your daily routines and actions, where do you see yourself in five years? 3. What kind of person will you be if you keep doing what you've doing right now? Besides the wonderful TED Talk with Dr. Dan Gilbert, I would also recommend checking out a different take on the same topic with this short speech from Matthew McConaughey.
External world perspective on Leadership: In one of the last posts, I touched on the leadership lessons from a former US President. Today I want to share a different perspective, coming from an unexpected place...the rescue of the Chilean Miners. To refresh our memories, the background was that on an early afternoon of August 5, 2010, more than 700,000 metric tons of rock suddenly caved in, blocking the central passage to the tunnels in the San José copper and gold mine in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Shaken miners close to the entrance soon made their way out, but 33 men working deep underground were trapped beneath some of the hardest rock on the planet. The leadership lessons boiled down to 3 "E"s that every leader needs to do: Envision, Enroll, and Engage.
Click here for the full HBR article on this topic, elaborating further on the leadership lessons and the 3 "E"s. I would encourage you to reflect on: Which E comes more naturally to you? Which E seems harder to do? What can you do about it?
Encouragement: Words like encouragement, empowerment, enablement (yes they all start with E. but that's not the point) are part of a "family" of buzz words that are easier said than done. They can mean so many different things. One way to give more meaning, or perhaps grasp how well they are being applied, is to think of what would be the observable behaviors that would demonstrate these attributes. If you were filming that person displaying these, what would happen? What would be said, what would be left unsaid, what would be felt? One example that captures the essence of my point about observable behaviors, is what Basketball Hall of Fame coach Maurice Cheeks does with this girl (check out the video - I suggest increasing your speaker's volume just a bit). Mo was then interviewed and asked what happened, and he said: ""Once I really saw what I did, I couldn’t believe I did it, first of all," Cheeks told Sporting News. I had to". That what a true supporter, a true coach does: it lifts everyone around, it makes everything better. I encourage you to think of an upcoming moment or situation that you can truly encourage, enable or empower someone in your team or in your family. What are you going to do?
Comments