Research done by Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov states that it takes no longer than 100 milliseconds to form an impression of a stranger from their face.
Within a tenth of a second we are making judgments and forming first impressions. We are judgment making machines.
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This week we delivered an event designed to help leaders dig deep into who they are, why they work and how they can use that as a filter for making decisions.
The experience is deeply impactful and for some life changing. One of the things I learned this week is about our orientation in leadership.
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My daughter plays soccer and she loves to play defense. She practices kicking hard so she can clear the ball out whenever it gets to her side of the field. Recently she played in a tournament where it was indoor soccer on a field not much larger than a tennis court.
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Carla Harris of Morgan Stanley came to Microsoft and shared some insights on leadership. There was one thing in particular that she shared with us that stuck with me.
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Before COVID seems like an easier time. It likely was not, but it feels that way. The amount of complexity that surrounds us is tremendous and we as leaders must find a way to navigate today and the uncertainty that is yet to come.
The only true way to figure out how to navigate complexity is to experiment. Jean-Philipee Courtois (JP) shared one specific experiment he ran as his role went from managing sales for the country of France to managing sales for all of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
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Years ago, Mark Zuckerberg took the world by storm with Facebook and the internal motto of “move fast and break things”. The motto was shortened in the industry to “fail fast”.
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To celebrate our most recent wedding anniversary, my wife and I hiked The Narrows at Zion National Park. It is a beautiful hike in a slot canyon through a shallow river. Depending on when you go the clarity of the river water can vary from clear to opaque. What makes the water opaque is the dirt and sand that has washed into the river. When we hiked The Narrows, the water was opaque. With each step it was a mystery to know what would come next. The bottom of the riverbed has various depths (from a few inches to a few feet) and various terrains (from soft sand to large uneven river rocks) making each step its own unique challenge.
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There is no shortage of books, articles, and research papers on the concept of leadership. It is a massive area of study for academics and practitioners alike. Despite the size of the field, there is no common definition for leadership. Consider a few that I have collected, some of which are quite terrible. I will let you be the judge.
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Ever since reading Good to Great by Jim Collins I have been fascinated by the concept of the flywheel. Working hard on the right things consistently over time and then having your efforts compound for massive impact over time. I have touched on the idea here and here.
Leadership is a difficult topic to create a flywheel around because there is not a shared definition of leadership in the community. The definition I choose to use is:
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Recently I finished Tribes by Seth Godin. His books are always interesting and insightful. In Tribes he had a point that hit home for me. The point went something like this.
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I teach and invite people to act. Proud husband, father and amateur pizzaiolo