High Performance Leadership

 "An enemy is a person whose story we have not heard." -- Gene Knudsen Hoffman Without contrary evidence it always seems like we're right. Even WITH contrary evidence we get stuck often defending our story, our view. The story may not be wrong, but it is surely incomplete. Listen. Ask questions. Understand. Learn. High performance leaders look for common ground. -- doug smith

"The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have." -- Sheryl Sandberg

It's better to be considered tough and show up tender than to be thought tender and show up tough. -- doug smith  

Resistance to change is our most natural and unproductive impulse. Helping people thru that change changes their lives positively. It's s something that high performance leaders do. -- doug smith

Have you ever danced to a tune you didn't like? Maybe it was at a wedding, or a holiday gathering, or a nightclub, or some other place. Dancing was around you and so you danced.  Dancing is usually a choice. Unless it is against your belief system (as a child I remember people in my family who thought that dancing was a sin) dancing is on the whole more beneficial than difficult.  I used to believe that I was a good dancer -- until my partner broke up with me and I discovered that SHE was the good dancer, so good that she makes anyone she dances with look like a better dancer (even me). And yet, still I dance. I remember the celebration dinner for a project that I worked on when the president of the company joined the rest of us on the dance floor to do a fun line dance. I'll admit, he danced better than me. For one of the programs that I teach I offer the participants the opportunity to dance in a brief virtual dance party. Some people do (and seem to enjoy it) and some people

Every bad habit you break makes room for a good habit to take. -- doug smith  

Part of the appeal of video games is the ability to reset. All (or much) is forgiven, the table is cleared, and you're free to begin again. Fun. Forgiving. Fabulous. My favorite keyboard shortcut is control+alt+delete (or in my ever Apple world, Control Z. Make a mistake? Reset! Real life is sometimes not as forgiving. There is no real reset -- only change. High performance leaders embrace change to make it positive change. What was, is gone because you can't get it back. Reset? Change! -- doug smith  

The most useful lessons need to be learned many times to become your most useful habits. -- doug smith 

Beat your average performance every day and you elevate your expectations, AND your performance.  You know the drill: a little adds up to a lot. -- doug smith  

The problem with trying to control someone is the inevitable rebellion that it sparks. Go for influence, not control. -- doug smith  

It's tempting. It's right in front of you as a leader. Someone violates your trust, or misses a goal, or fails to respond to the promise of a reward, and the logical action seems to be to punish them in some way. Take away a perk. Deny a personal day off. Refuse a good assignment. Be careful. Every punishment brings about unexpected payback. Maybe it's immediate or maybe it comes months (even years!) down the road -- but payback is coming. It could be assertive, even aggressive -- or it could be so passive aggressive that you fail to see it coming. Oh, but it's coming. You may not like that payback. You may want to consider another path. What do you think? -- doug smith  

Adversity creates urgency for you goals.  You might not want the conflict, but it just might catalyze your actions toward success. Find the good in it and move ahead. Any important goal will spark a bit of conflict. Use that energy to help you achieve your goal. -- doug smith

Everybody wants to win but to win within the rules is the road to excellence. Any cheating at all cracks the character that holds long term quality together. Win, sure. Win within the rules. -- doug smith  

Unless you want a fuzzy result, get specific about your request. No matter how great a leader you are, no one can read your mind. -- doug smith  

Leaders need courage. They also need compassion. We can use our compassion to balance our courage, and use our courage to increase our compassion. Compassion is so vital we must never give up on it. No matter how angry we are, no matter how disappointed we feel, no matter how high the stakes -- stay with compassion. If it cannot be done with compassion, it should not be done. -- doug smith

How often do you check your work? When you're leading others you've got to check their work, too.  High performance leaders verify and then verify their verification. Things change.  Mistakes happen. Check to be sure. -- doug smith

Have you ever pushed a car in order to get it started? Back in the day, that was a regular occurrence, especially when I drove old beater-type cars.  I had a volkswagen van once that I had to park on a hill so that it would be easy enough to start in the morning -- giving it a push downhill is so much easier. It's always harder to put a standing object in motion. Even as leaders we can get stuck and find it hard to start. Push. Give yourself a boost. Make that push to get started and momentum will be your friend. Once you're moving the rest is much, much easier. -- doug smith

The best coaches drive discipline thru daily habits. -- doug smith  

                      We are constantly developing leadership -- the work is never done. New challenges, new people, new goals. That includes how we lead and who we develop as current and future leaders. Developing leadership is a constant. What's your plan? -- 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

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

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

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

  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

I went thru a grumpy period in my life. It was like a rut that was so deep no light could get in. It fed on its own bumpy grumpiness until that's all I could feel. Yuck. Forget that now. Now, I start with a positive thought. I could be wrong about finding the silver lining, but I've learned that I won't see the silver lining unless I look for it, and that's the place to start. Even the smallest positive effort has a positive impact. Let's start there. -- doug smith  

If you can't seem to hire good performers with a solid work ethic, you might need to develop them. Maybe start by showing them what that looks like, or as John Maxwell has said "Know the way, show the way, and go the way." You know, walk the talk. I know a LOT of leaders who complain about work ethic. Maybe they need to let their people see them work... -- doug smith  

If you visit the dark side, don't get stuck there. -- doug smith 

Change agents don't always play by the rules. Expecting them to is the act of a fool. -- doug smith

Freedom without responsibility produces more harm than good. Responsibility without freedom sparks certain revolution.  High performance leaders don't FIND the balance, they CREATE the balance. Start by listening. -- doug smith

People sometimes disappoint. Whether it is intentional, accidental, or something in between, it happens. People also intend to do their best. Our expectations influence our team members one way or another -- positive intentions and expectations are a better match than negative expectations and whatever happens next. Expect the best from people and let them know: nothing less will do. -- doug smith  

Ever fall in love with a plan? We can plan so thoroughly that the plan feels invincible, but it's not. We can plan with such precision that we think we're ready for anything. We're not ready for anything. Things have a way of changing in ways we did not expect. If your plan was made before things hanged it's time to change your plans. We don't need to get upset. We need to get up and going. -- doug smith  

There's a lot of good advice out there. It's tempting to gather it all, gather some more, and then keep gathering. And, we should keep learning. Oh, and if we want to  put all that learning to use, we should use it.  Your philosophy only works if you do. -- doug smith

The best leaders will eventually make things easier for you, but first they toughen you up. And, that's not easy at all. -- doug smith

Over-charging is the worst possible customer service. Charge a fair price. Amortize your costs if you have to, but keep your price affordable for the people who need your product or service most. Ir will pay off in the long run, and you'll feel better about it right away. -- doug smith

Keep your goals simple and keep your work on them steady. Goals are nice to have. Action is essential.  -- doug smith  

Focus on finding kindness and you'll find more of it. -- doug smith