Silly Liars

Do liars frustrate you? They absolutely aggravate me. Especially since they usually KNOW they are lying, and often KNOW that you KNOW they are lying, and still they lie. It's nonsense.

You can't stop a liar from lying, but you don't have to play their game.

-- doug smith

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Better, Not Bitter

Recognition of our flaws should improve us, not break us. -- doug smith

Muscle Up

Weakness is no excuse to claim victimhood. Muscle up. Courage-up. Face your challenges without excuses. -- doug smith

How many eighty-hour work weeks do you put in? That's not meant to judge, but to ponder. I've put in plenty of eighty and more hour work weeks and while I don't regret any of them I know that they haven't all paid-off proportionately. It's possible to work so hard that you miss what's important. It's a frequent paradox that the longer one works they less productive they become. I've learned to tell myself: Take a break. Relax. Let it all come to you, flow thru you, and go on its merry way -- if only for a little while. Drink water, exercise, meditate, pray, and relax. To be truly centered, to be truly focused and balanced, high performance leaders need to be healthy. Healthy leaders build healthy teams. Take care of yourself. -- doug smith

Appreciate!

Do the people on your team get enough appreciation? Are you sure? No one wants to be taken for granted. We all benefit from recognition and appreciation. Plus, when high performance leaders give out appreciation, they discover that not only does the person who is receiving the appreciation enjoy it, it's also enjoyable for the giver. It's free, and the results are wonderful. Appreciation brings its own reward. -- doug smith

Celebrate Progress

When was the last time that you were frustrated in trying to learn something? If you can't remember, maybe it's time to learn something new -- something tough and challenging. Truly worthwhile endeavors are often struggles. The satisfaction comes not only in the final result, but also in the progress toward that final result. The best way to avoid a sad let-down once a goal is achieved is to enjoy the journey all the way thru. Celebrate your progress! Not so much that you feel finished, but enough so that you feel able. Celebrate progress, and then keep on progressing. As that beat poet and philosopher Harry X. Tudas once said, "Feel in the groove but continue to improve." -- doug smith

Feedback Takes Practice

How good are you at providing feedback? If you're not sure, ask your team members. If you are good at it, they'll tell you. If you're not good at it, then maybe they will and maybe they won't. Feedback does not come easy. Skillful, useful feedback that improves both performance AND self-esteem is a delicate balance of recognizing positives and occasionally providing insights on areas of improvement -- all placed into the context of why it matters. Without the "why" -- why the feedback matters, why the improvement matters, why the performance matters, all the feedback you can muster will only fluster whoever you provide it to. Tell them what they did that was great, ask how they could make it even greater, and share with them why it all makes a difference. Because unless it really makes a difference who cares? Feedback, like any skill, takes practice. -- doug smith

Know Why You Do What You Do

Remember that advertising slogan for a very questionable publication that kept saying "Inquiring minds want to know"? We all have inquiring minds. We all need to know. And what we need to know the most is why. Why do we do what we do. What makes what we do cool, important, necessary? It's never just a job. It's never just an interaction. There is always a reason why. Know why. Figure out your why. Identify your mission. Then roll with it. -- Doug Smith P.S. My good friend David Spiegel has pointed out that Simon Sinek is a great source on WHY. Here's the video where I first was drawn to his thinking on this:

Practice Courage

It's not courage until it's tested. Before the big test it's all intentions. We go thru life with great intentions. When those noble intentions are tested, it takes energy to stay true to our values. It takes courage. Have you defined and clarified your convictions? Is what you believe so firmly rooted that it can stand against any storm? Mean well. Stay strong. Define what matters. Stay true. All of this is easier said than done. The doing takes courage, and courage requires convictions. To quote a line from a great movie, "The Untouchables" delivered by Sean Connery, "what are you prepared to give?" -- doug smith

Choose Your Response

When was the last time that someone said something to you that triggered a strong emotion? Was that their intention? Sometimes people push our buttons - they find our little insecurities or idiosyncrasies or pain points and push them until we feel an emotional response. That's an opportunity, but it sure doesn't feel like one at the time. Long ago, I would react to those moments with an emotion-triggering response of my own. That'll show 'em. Take that. What do you think of that? The trouble was, that's just trouble. I've never fixed an unhealthy situation with an unhealthy behavior. What I've learned is, to breathe. Take a big breath. Give my response about five seconds before letting it come out. By doing that, I create a much better response. We don't choose how people communicate with us - but we do choose how to respond. I'm working at responding positively every time. How about you? -- Doug Smith

What If the Score Changes?

What's the problem with keeping score? How we measure things keeps changing. Is it better to be the fastest in your field, or to be the one who endures? Is quality more important than quantity? What if you run out? Peter Drucker is often quoted for his insightful line, "what gets measured gets done." We do need to measure. We do need to differentiate. We also need to remember that scores lead to surprises: people learn how to game the scores, customers shift their interests, metrics morph into new configurations. Keeping score only matters until it doesn't matter -- and that can happen in a heartbeat. Are you ready to change? Are you ready to change how you measure that change? --

High Performance Leadership

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