They came, they competed, they departed…leaving behind echoes that will be repeated in other races. Can you envision the sounds of the track; the cars, the crowd, the “pop” of the beer can tabs (?)…the race announcers? Can you feel the energy; the excitement…the hum of anticipation? All participants have the intentions of acquiring the most points…of being the best…of becoming a part of Indy history. However, is intention enough to win…to be at their peak…to be at the best? And is it all about the driver…or are there other factors that need to be accounted for?

I wrestle with the good intention thing…I have a myriad of good intentions…all that seem to jockey for the first place slot on my priority list. However, my actions, my execution….well, let’s just be honest and admit that it falters…too many times. I can argue using the rationalized constraints of time, energy, other commitments, etc., but they are what they are…rational lies to myself and to others. How do I stay in that upper quadrant of conviction….going beyond the acceptable commitment plateau? Well, I believe that, for me, I need speed…or at least the feeling of speed. I like to get to where I am going….fast!! Yet, I am wise enough to know that it needs to be controlled speed! The kind where you know exactly what you are doing when you hit that apex…that exact center of the turn…that exact point when you know you can down shift, execute a slideways, and with down force and some drafting…you can be walkin the dog on to the finish! (And it does matter how you finish!)

However, personal experience has shown that it takes more than the good intentions…it takes more than a plan. You need to know what’s “good”…what’s important. And you need to know what actions are required to execute results that lead to faithful leadership. In addition, and this is the big component, you need community…you need stakeholders…you need a team. You need to determine the “race type” which determines the “car”, the “driver”, the “course design”, the “distance in laps”, and the “qualifying” pre-requisites. You need to identify your “promoters”, your “pit crew”, and the “spotters”. And then, what it boils down to is, how well will the driver handle the “aerodynamics” of the car; the focus, the discipline, and the skill required; the trust level with the pit crew, and the risks that are associated with the track that catalyze fears if not looked at, processed, and embraced.

So, what race type will I choose today? What will my car look like (hot!!)…and believe me…there is no question, “who will be the driver?”!  Who will be a part of this journey of leadership…of life…and what will be the ultimate impact I want to immortalize? I guess I need to really define that “what is important” question. I need to figure out how I’m going to handle the occasional “brain fade”; I need to make the time to dream…to write it down. It needs to be in black and white…imprinted on my sub-conscious…therefore, hopefully, harder to forget or deny.

Where do I go from here? Well, I’m not going to the track…the Indy 500 is over…but, I can look to the other “races” in the future, thereby determining what’s next…just like Patrick had to do when taken out of the race by Dixon. Sometimes we need to get over things and remember that there is a new day…a new beginning; life isn’t going to wait. Well, it’s time, the waiting is over, and the flags are out. My question, to be answered by you and by me is, “what, where and when is the next race”? Are your intentions to just circle the track…to just look like you’re trying to win…to just coast until the next pit stop…or are you out there for all 50 points?!! Ready….Set…Go!!!! The flag is dropped…. And don’t forget the concept of the faithful leader when you are checkered out…faithful leadership is recognizing and bringing along the others that help you get to the finish line! 

I heard him say, “He told me that I have nothing more to work on,” as if he was now exempt from the responsibility of courageous and worthy stewardship. I was shocked! Can it be that people really believe that they are largely done with growth and development after they have completed what they have identified as remedial? For many, once they have complied with the present rules, they feel like they now can collect the “get of jail” card and be left alone to themselves and to their present behavioral norms. I don’t want to accept that people are largely interested in going invisible to not only others, but to themselves regarding their immaturity, constraints, and distortions. Ignorance, hiddeness, slothfulness and outright lies are seemingly a balm that far too many opt for versus truth that frees. It is far too easy to allow these distortions to take away the time of our lives that ultimately is required to create the life that we believe we will live. Thich Nhat Hanh says that “Peace is every step.” Consciousness of this step, this breath, this person, this situation, this opportunity, is the very thing before us to meet, understand, improve AND WORK ON. All of us are responsible, some of us respond. How about you?

My reflections this week stem from conversations concerning employee satisfaction and keeping the bar high! Inclusive in this are persons who want to be leaders of impact. Not just a little bit of impact to stem tides of discontent, but the kind of impact that changes people and therefore the culture of an environment (i.e. school, office, and factory floor). (The only time I want to be little is when I am in my bathing suit or skinny jeans). Otherwise, I want to be BIG; BIG in the game of life!! It’s part of helping others to “be not small” in their leadership… how they do life and who they are, right?

So much has centered on maintaining high percentage of engagement by lower level employees – assessing levels of trust, respect, recognition, and commitment to what’s right, not necessarily easy. I submit for your own reflection, some simple leadership reminders illustrated in a book, “It’s Your Ship”, by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff, recommended to me by a client/friend (thanks Darren):

See the company through the eyes of the employees:

• solicit suggestions
• Reduce tedious chores that provide little value
• Communicate, communicate, and communicate – the plan…frequently and clearly.
• Create discipline by focusing on purpose: make them believe that what they do and who they are…are important!
• Listen aggressively: what are the needs?

o Knowledge – training
o Respect – kind words
o Affirmation – recognition

• Empower, encourage, employ ideas, and reward exceptional performance, effort, and loyalty.

Nothing earth shattering here…nothing new to learn…it’s basic. So what’s the rule of the game? It’s where everybody has a clear awareness of how his or her work makes an impact. Remember, we are all leaders; we just have different areas of influence and different talents in how we can impact change. Therefore, the first job of a leader is to crystallize where the business is going (vision) and how (strategy) it is going to get there. (remember, YOU are the “business” too!) Then the second part, the part with the biggest barriers, is the execution of the intentions; will you have the will and the discipline?

Will you embrace the BIG concept of leadership and create a trickle down culture that empowers sustainable conviction? Will you ‘own’ the combination of knowing the why and how (intellect – head) with the passion of the purpose (emotional – heart)? Accountability is the top of the leadership pyramid and supports the BIG objective: Be the Impact for the Greater Good!! Not to be redundant…but it is part of that faithful leadership thing; doing what’s right based on core convictions that align with the accountability lens of community (micro-community or stakeholders).

Might sound hokey…but good ideas come in simple truths. We’re the ones who try and make it more complicated than it has to be. Much like faith…you don’t know if you have enough to stand on but your feet are already in motion. Risking takes a lot of courage.

- Trudy

I’m sitting with a guy today over breakfast and we are discussing some of the 360 degree feedback from his work associates. I can hear the inner struggle of owning the condition of what we are when we are conscious of our wholeness - our being both good and bad. Eastern thought uses the word “co-emergence” to explain the idea that at any one time both good and bad is present. . .the question is how unconditionally present are we with our saintly AND sordid ways? Augustine’s Soliloquies suggests that true recollection (the re-collecting of) leads us always to confession. It is only when we embrace not just the wholeness of our historic experience, but also when we see what we have done with this experience, do we truly choose ourselves and engage life with a threefold presence of repentance, renewal, and offering.

To accept ourselves seems to require that we look beyond the light we so freely offer others and forage into the shadows, guilt, and sins and thus to the truth of “Who?” and “What?” we have been. To be with another in ways that are transformational to each, asks that the relationship emerges from the truth of our personal and collective stories where an honest rendering of both light and dark is accepted with repentance. . .a repentance that opens to the inner life of things that link us all. From my experience, this place that moves us well beyond being transactional, is in itself neither religious nor redemptive but an honesty that takes us to something even beyond ourselves.

Worthy leaders of great impact do not have the self, or its betterment as the ultimate goal, but rather, what is revealed in and through the experiences of our lives. There is a consciousness that can be experienced with others that expands beyond our self-interest. The way to leading well within corporations, schools, churches or homes necessitates a personal and shared repentance that tunes us into the collective truths of what we have in common. This presence opens us to renewal and to offering what is good as it relates to both the situation and to others.

My early morning leader has a choice. . .as do each of us. . . .

As Americans, we are absolutely addicted to break through anything. The notion of kaizen or 2% improvement is something that we just as soon let someone else be managed by. Flat out, what we’re looking for, is leap frog transformation. But as I work with leaders, increasingly what I’m seeing is a fierce commitment to acting small, starting small, breaking into small teams of four to seven people, to embrace and practice rapid fire iterative revolution. Now don’t get me wrong, they are not calling it that, but regardless, what they’re doing is revolutionary.

This is counter to the typical approach of “ready,” “aim,” “aim!” You know what I mean, we are always getting ready, we are always seeming to be aiming, and my experience is break through innovation (some call it disruptive change) demands the marketization of our generative ideas. Put it out on the table! Get it into the hands of end users! Let the customer/client handle the product, play with the beta, become a collaborative partner in building the next best mousetrap, see what those closest to us think. . .I mean real transparent honesty.

What I’m hearing in the trenches…places where we spend the majority of our days/can we say “life…” is that we need to face it, we’ve been guessing wrong about the future most of the time. Whether it’s Harry Warner, founder of Warner Bros. studio, saying “who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” commenting on talking movies or, Thomas Watson, former chairman of IBM, state “I think there is a world market for about five computers,” and present-day versions that pushback against the 80’s notion of high tech, high touch (you know. . .the more high tech the greater the demand will be for high human touch) when we look at the effect of Face Book in kids spending hours interacting with other individuals from anywhere in the world building what they call community…and trying to guess about what will be in the future, it’s just that, a GUESS. So what are we to do but embrace the brilliance of multiple small starts. Experiment! Target small victories! Orient toward small markets! Unleash unbridled passion to systematically knockoff present profitable products and services to purposefully create the demand for “next.” Hey! Let’s not forget to contextualize this in our personal lives. We don’t have to shave off 40 pounds today, finish the degree next week, or “save” the relationship in one conversation. Rapid fire/iterative progression! Just get it out and begin to practice multiple small starts. The opportunity is CONSTANT!

“If a man, holding a belief which he was taught in childhood or persuaded of afterwards, keeps down and pushes away any doubts which arise about it in his mind, purposely avoids the reading of books and the company of men that call into question or discuss it, and regards as impious those questions which cannot easily be asked without disturbing it - the life of that man is one long sin against mankind.” William Clifford