It is no surprise that we live in a tumultuous world. Over two years ago COVID-19 changed the world, and ever since then we have been surrounded by a continued deluge of chaos, uncertainty, and complexity.
Consider a few of the world events in the last two years:
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For the last several years I have been running leadership development programs and a core component of those programs has always been a variation on a “learning group”. A group of learners going through a shared experience and learning from each other while they progress.
Historically about 80% of learning groups that I have looked after have been miserable failures. The leaders do not take the time to meet with each other and when they do, they do not have anything meaningful to say to each other so little value is produced.
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Lately I have been making an extra effort to strengthen my professional relationships. Talking to friends and rekindling relationships has revealed to me a tension I feel.
If I allow someone to see my weakness, then I will not be trusted.
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If you have ever worked at a major corporation, you certainly have dealt with an expense policy for the company. Expense policies are typically designed to protect the firm from financial risk. The firm decides what risk they are willing to tolerate and applies boundary conditions for how company money can be spent.
I have started to take an interest in systems thinking and I have heard the following quote (or something like it) repeated many times.
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Seven months ago, I wrote about compounding the right things, I want to build on the idea as it relates exponential growth.
There are small practices or habits, that when performed with consistency, will build and compound over time. Find the right set of practices and growth becomes exponential.
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Microsoft’s mission is stated the following way:
Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
This mission statement is energizing to me because it aligns well with my values. I want to empower others to be the absolute best they can be. Empowerment is not easy. It requires intentional action and space to allow individuals to take action themselves and to learn and grow.
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I love to teach and recently had the opportunity to visit and facilitate a college course at Wichita State University. The course was hosted by the Kansas Leadership Center. The curriculum is based on principles of Adaptive Leadership from Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky.
The definition of leadership shared in the course is:
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My brother is a big fan of investing and personal growth, I love asking him about the books he is reading and what he is learning. In a recent conversation, he could not stop raving about the book The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. I have not yet read the book but know of the concepts and have been thinking about writing about them for some time.
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The exercise of writing down and reflecting on the year is useful. I love reading other’s new year resolutions and how they choose to want to become better. I have time to reflect and time to think about what the next year will hold for me and my family.
In my reflection I realized this year was a year of firsts. Here are a few firsts for me and my family in 2021
(more…)I love the opportunity each December to reflect on the birth of the Savior of the world Jesus Christ. The record we have of Christ’s birth and his formative years is sparce. What we do have is special and sacred. This year as I reflect on His birth my thoughts are turned to Mary.
The angel of the Lord who visited Mary while engaged to Joseph said:
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I teach and invite people to act. Proud husband, father and amateur pizzaiolo