High Performance Leadership

  "You've got to be there. Big decisions are being made!" my former boss told me a long time ago. "If your voice is in the room you might be heard..." It was good advice then and it still is. Show up. When there's a goal you're working on and an opportunity appears to advance that goal -- show up. When changes are being made that will affect you -- show up! When it matters to you -- show up. You won't always get what you want by showing up, but you never will if you don't! -- 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

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?

How centered are you? Don't ask me! That's the kind of humility-busting question that invalidates whatever answer I could muster up. Centered? Sure. How centered? It depends on when you ask. High performance leaders stay centered. They come off their center sometimes, sure. We all do. No one is perfect. And being centered does not imply perfection. It implies control. It conveys flexibility. It denotes composure in the face of pressure. High performance leaders maintain their composure in the face of unrelenting pressure. You know, the world that we're in. Staying centered is a practice, a discipline, and perhaps a bit of good fortune. I'm working at it everyday. How about you? -- Doug Smith