High Performance Leadership

The trouble with assigned goals is that it's within our nature to avoid them. That's true even if YOU are the one assigning the goal. The first question for any goal is: what is your motivation to achieve it? What will you get out of it? How will it make you feel? If those answers come hard to you, it might not be a goal for you. Question any goal that doesn't promise to make your life better. -- doug smith

Are you comfortable with uncertainty? Or does it make you a little edgy. We live with much uncertainty. What will the stock market do? What will our customers want next quarter? What is our competition up to? How do we find and retain the best talent? What style of leadership suits our team the best? Lots of uncertainty. Unless we plan carefully, the amount of uncertainty we deal with magnifies. It grows. Take a little uncertainty, and ignore it, and it grows. Yikes. Uncertainty is not your friend. Still, as high performance leaders we must not only tolerate some uncertainty, we must embrace it. What if it is in the little in-between unknowns where the biggest change is coming? What if by staying uncertain about a certain detail we open up more possibilities. We can't be ambiguous, yet we can be open to the unexpected as opportunity. Uncertainty is not your enemy. You need some uncertainty. Just not so much that nothing gets planned, built, or created. Leaders sometime...

Everyone will lie to you. The two key questions are: how will you know, and how will you respond? -- doug smith

Have you ever known someone who seems to be waiting for a miracle before they make any major change? Miracles are great in stories. I also do believe that miracles happen. Things beyond our power may intervene in our behalf. It's risky to wait and rely on miracles, though. If the power you need is power outside of yourself how will you ever get it? What can be done right now with what we have is where we begin. It wasn't magic that brought you here and you don't need magic to improve. Just get moving. -- doug smith

Someone who yells at you is feeling pain that has nothing to do with you. You might be able to help, but you don't ever need to take it personally. And taking it personally makes it hard to help. Stay curious. Find out what's going on. -- doug smith

Fear is a funny thing. It warns us. It gets in the way. It protects us from harm. It prevents bigger achievements. Fear is a funny thing. Nothing to laugh at, but nothing to surrender to, either. What if that fear is telling you something other than avoidance? What if it is really excitement bubbling up to energize your next great achievement? Maybe that fear is there to help you move forward. Take caution, of course. Weigh all the choices and ramifications. But mobilize! What you're afraid of really wants to help you. Listen. -- doug smith

Can you tell when someone is lying to you? Do you call them on it? Do you stay curious enough to explore what's behind what feels like a lie? How about when you catch yourself stretching the truth or simply leaving out an important detail? You're better than that, right? High performance leaders are better than that. You can handle the truth, AND you can deliver the truth. Consistently, insistently, tell the truth. The adjustment from a lie to the truth may be troubling at first but it's eventually liberating. The truth rules. -- doug smith