High Performance Leadership

Leadership is more than strength and much more than power. Leading by strength alone ultimately fails. High performance leaders find balance, centeredness, subtlety. They exercise a skillful combination of clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion. And they do not give up or force the issue thru strength alone. Leading by strength alone ultimately fails. Why fail? Learn, and then do better. -- doug smith P.S. I'm still learning. How about you?

I once had a friend (OK, much more than a friend) who wrote a lovely song with the words "slow down and enjoy the view." It made perfect sense in 1977 and it makes even more sense now. We're in such a hurry. We're focused on our goals and on our results. We drive, drive, drive our people to do ever more -- faster, and better. Sometimes, though, we need to breathe. When a high performance leader shows that it is OK to take the time to breathe, that it's OK to slow down once in a while to center yourself -- that pays off for the whole team. Sure, achieve those goals. And -- take care of yourself and your team as you do great things. The ride is never long enough so don't miss the view. -- doug smith

Do you ever intentionally throw your team off balance? I once worked with another manager who had a completely different style than mine. He was direct, authoritative, boss-like. And yet, his people loved him. Style is just a start. And Russ backed up his style with a heart as big as all outdoors. Sure, he was boss like, but in a lovable, Lou Grant kind of heart-of-gold. But his sense of humor was wicked funny. One day he told me that he was going to rearrange his team's workstations. "I'm going to change every single one," he said. "Everyone is going to come to work and discover that they sit somewhere else." "Won't that rock the boat?" I asked. "Absolutely. It will rock them right out of their complacency. And the ones who have been relishing their coveted places will see what it's like next to the copy machine. And the one next to the copy machine will finally get a break. It will shake things up. Some of them will hate ...

Is it possible to be confident and humble at the same time? I think that it is not only possible, it's necessary. Centered leaders find that balance between confidence in their ability (and the capacity of their teams) and humility as an imperfect, learning individual and organization. It's not an either/or choice. So much of centered leadership is coming to peace with the dynamic reality that in life we have endless possibilities and they don't imply either/or choices most of the time. We can bend. We can blend. We can mend and grow. There is a tough yet necessary balance point between confidence and humility. What will you do to help you find it? -- Douglas Brent Smith