Browse by Band, Artist, Topic

managing Under Pressure…. a quick update…

… do you know the scene in Forrest Gump where he just stopped running… and didn’t really offer an explanation? Thankfully, a few of you noticed that I “stopped writing” – which meant a few were actually paying attention and reading these daily muses. To be honest, like Forrest there was not a lot of thought given to it: once I realized I was going to make it for 365 in a row, that was an easy target. And crossed, it was interesting that I still had something to say – sorta

Joy renewal

As I stepped into rediscovering Joy, it is not a surprise it is related to creating things. Raised in a family of tinkerers, I was always in the process of either building something or helping someone build something. The wonder of imagining something that hadn’t existed before was something that was second nature with my Dad, having built things even in his youth out of scraps around his house.

executing Joy

Joy has been complex for the last year, and if you think about it, for a long time. We have been marinating in people either pointing at others who are keeping them from their Joy, or even more dangerous, how could I possibly be Joyful when I am so downtrodden. The transference of our own ability to manage… ourselves … to others has been spectacularly executed. It may be why watching the recent NCAA championship was so fun – it was watching some amazing players who have navigated all of the crap this year and now are at the peak of their Joy…

wonder of Joy

I am in a season of 35 one-shot coaching conversations with MBA students who had been taped in a simulation that they were set up to fail in… and no wonder, most did. Told they only have 15 minutes to convince the COO and CTO to take action, they soon realized there was nothing that would please them… because they had not taken time to ask them what they wanted. Some of the students even dreaded coming to our calls thinking that they were going to learn “what they did wrong”. And of course, that is not at all what happens…

Joy observation

It is a convenient coincidence that the “empower” words come in the order they are in. Yes, it is easier to make the acronym work, but these “middle” words tie together particularly well. That became clear a year or so back when I was talking with a partner who observed that I had lost my Joy. At first, I was a little taken aback, but as we talked through the assessment, she was right

partners with Joy

As we discussed with Happiness a few weeks back, Joy can be a fleeting commodity. It often arrives when you may or not be even looking for it, but appears with a smile, a laugh, a look. You may not know what has caused it, but the endorphin rush in your brain confirms it is real..and wants to recreate it again. For the last few years, all I knew was that something that I used to have, and had misplaced along the way, not in a dramatic way, more like how you lose your keys. You know there – somewhere – and you slowly retrace your steps to where you can remember last having them…

Joy management

Mistakes are the Joy of management, You read that right, and by the end of this, I hope to help you see that is true. We like to think that we are there to ensure things are done “right” and “perfectly” but if you read these enough, you know that mistakes are what has made both my life more interesting, and also the music I love the most. Today’s track is a perfect example of this, going through multiple mistakes to come one of the most important and iconic U2 songs.

Can you engage with Joy?

I have spent more than a year avoiding writing about one of the most expressed emotions I have seen escalate daily… and I am not going to engage now. I have always been more of an optimistic person, and people who know me get tired of me saying 2 phrases. Both are aspirational, and convey a real sense that I really do want to bring to every conversation. They are a direct antidote to that other thing that has been circulating and now has taken on a fever pitch in all areas of life… but there I go again. Let’s spend the week on better things – let’s talk about Joy!

renewing your Faith..

Easter ends 40 days of preparation this morning, and in many churches, it will begin with early Sunrise services, or as they are often titled, Son-Rise services. After Friday, and making it through the Day of Decision, we are now to the morning of what was predicted. What you had Faith in would be renewed: is it the world of men that had killed, dominated, and crushed a rebellion, leaving fear and trembling by all those who had seen it. Or could your Faith be in something else, something unseen, requiring deep belief in something that seems impossible…

Faith execution

One of the most difficult things to execute as a leader is called a “Declaration”. In the field of speech, that is defined as “a public communication that moves us toward a future possibility.” It must have Authority, a clear definition of the future state, inspire others to join in, be within their grasp… and slightly out of their reach. It is that last part – getting people to step up and join in the journey that is often complex… as without execution, it is just words. Faith is what causes you to actually move forward…

wondering about Faith

The wonder of Good Friday is back upon us. The Faithful focus on 3 major events in the year, and you can get a good argument going on which is the “most” important. It would mirror the conversation in the Upper Room last night – who is the most important Disciple? Who is the favorite, who has the most important role in the team? The bickering and fighting, jockeying for position…it is really a wonder that like many leaders, he would have thought twice about going through with the plan. After all, were they really worth the price that was to be paid?

Faith observations

Happy April Fools Day! If there was a holiday that I revere, it would be this one. As a natural cut-up and jokester, I often circle this day on the calendar for something fun. This year, it corresponds on the Faith calendar to a day called Maundy Thursday – one that I wasn’t really in tune with, the night of The Last Supper that you probably do know about. It is now observed as a fairly somber service where the church is stripped of all elements and hung with the darkness that would come with “Good” Friday…

partners in Faith

March Madness is all around us again, and I am really happy to have it back. So many memories of my life are tied to these months, and the early decisions that were made then are still playing out. Yesterday we talked about the bumper sticker about Faith and I realize that some of you don’t like me bouncing around my timeline, but at least the U2 storyline will be consistent. For there is really no way to talk about them without weaving in one of the most important partners in the band… and therefore a bit about my own story that is very similar.

management Faith

“Faith isn’t Faith until it is all you are holding onto”... read the bumper sticker that was on our refrigerator. Our little family was now in Northern Virginia in a house that we could barely afford, and had been slowly rebuilding/rehabbing it into our home. The kids...

The Faith to engage

How do you know that your team will actually deliver something for you? Frankly, how do they know you will do the same for them? It is well known that the number 1 reason someone stays in a job is their relationship with their Boss… and the number one reason they leave is… It is a constant conversation with leaders at all levels, and comes in all flavors but mostly centers on a word that once spoken, freezes a conversation: Trust. I want to engage this week and explore a word that I believe is both easier to use, and one that can also bring some complexity worth the hassle – Faith.

Happiness renewed

One of the arguments I enjoyed using in Debate was “Causality”. It is something that is often muddy – did this particular thing CAUSE this other thing. We see it all the time now in our reporting, and often is something that is simply correlated. A famous one is the Number of People who Drown in Swimming Pools and the Number of films Nicholas Cage stars in – have the same shaped graph. You could imply that one caused the other, but I doubt that would stick. But do you believe that Happiness causes renewal, or vice versa, or are they even causal?

executing Happiness

Being a “human doing” is easy for me, and probably the closest common denominator to what integrates Happiness into my day. If you remember fractions, and frankly who doesn’t, denominator means the quality/number that reduces those crazy-looking numbers into something you can combine together. Without stretching the math metaphor too far, it means that it is present in all of the things you are working with. All my best stories include, “I was … “ followed by something I was doing… A “human being” …and being Happy at that… a complicated conversation to execute…

Happiness wonder

As I crested the hill west of Tyler as a 17-year-old freshman, Happiness was palpable and real. My favorite radio station would only get stronger, a good stereo to set up in my dorm room was in my trunk, and an easy drive ahead to take me into the…. Future. I was as prepared as I could be, and now it was only to wonder how the story would unfold. Looking back 45 years later, wonder is what I can see in each of the various phases and steps that have landed me here… but Happiness… what actually is that?

observing Happiness

In the Will Smith movie 15 years ago, we see a man working to pull himself through a difficult period of his life. Starting as a Stockbroker, he quickly falls into a series of bad outcomes, until he is clearly not “Happy”. As we watch this true story brought to life, there is a particular phase he observes again and again. “Thomas Jefferson… how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what?”

Happiness partners

Who is around you when Happiness shows up? Seems like an easy question - and yet, as we discussed yesterday, very few of us actually know what it is in the first place, so noticing partners who are there, particularly those that are consistently there, is not...

managing Happiness

Like many things I start, they go well… until some odd unintended consequence pops up, usually just as I am figuring that out. When someone asked me to describe “What is Coaching?” being visual, I start with my Thumb (counseling), Pinky (Consulting), Pointer (life...

Happiness in engaging

As we round the bend on a year of many things, I was looking at my ring finger. Being old, it takes a LONG time to heal, and about this time last year, I was rebuilding one of my flower beds. We have a large surplus of rocks, otherwise known as living on a mountain, and they make easy garden borders. As I was placing one, the point crushed my finger – right on the nail. About 10 minutes of pain… followed by a year of the nail turning black, and being like that for most of the last year. Now, it is almost back to normal, with only a few changes… an interesting metaphor. What reminds you of what has engaged you for the last 364 days?

Differences that renew

Mid-day yesterday, the Earth passed through the mid-point of the trip between Winter and Summer - a day where there is no Difference between the number of hours of light and darkness. Exactly the same for a moment… and like teams that perform well, that stasis can...

execution Differences

I have been thinking about Teams a lot lately, particularly those that are formed in a crisis. They typically execute with “show up in a conference room at ….” and from there, take on a life and a feeling that is hard to describe. Leaders of those teams have a unique challenge – how to assemble a group that has all of the various skills that might be needed, and then, how to keep them together when there is not a lot that they share. Differences that bring strength and breadth also challenge you to communicate and lead in a way that says execution is about the work and not about what happens to you or others 😉

Different wonders

After listening, the hardest thing I work with leaders on is unlearning what they know. That may seem counterintuitive, but honestly, they don’t know it. Their brains have made it up… based on facts that it has chosen to observe, and ignoring those that it really doesn’t want to notice. The fancy name for it is the Ladder of Inference, but Paul Simon says it clearer “Still, a man hears what he wants to hear.. and disregards the rest”. When you really understand the depth and breadth of this deception, it is really any wonder we know anything…

Success had been tasted, but also had left some residue for Van to wonder about and resolve. Now in New York, he was influenced by Bert who helped Here Comes the Night and Gloria become hits to sign a contract that he didn’t read. He had a few songs collected and was persuaded to go into the A&R studio to record “4 singles” – which is typically 4 ‘good’ songs, and 4 that are the B sides. Now admittedly his B sides were great, but these were all recorded in only 2 days in March of 1967, and he really didn’t think much more about it…

… until he was called to let him know his first solo album was being released, including cover art that was highly psychedelic, and titled Blowin’ Your Mind. Van had never been a drug user, and was adamantly opposed to the release of the album, but the contract was clear that all control had been given completely to Bert, and as such the album came out. Even after Bert’s death later that year, the contract was in dispute which included a ban on performing without Bang Records approval… and Van was forced to move to Boston.

He struggled, but eventually was able to work out of the contract and land at Warner Brothers after, I kid you not, a $20,000 drop of cash in a warehouse on Ninth Avenue…and the commitment for 36 more songs. Van recorded them – on an out-of-tune guitar, with lyrics about Ringworms and sandwiches. They are known now as the “revenge recordings” and only saw the light of day in a 2017 release by Bang 😉 And… the wonder is that the time in Boston allowed him to work on one of the greatest albums ever… but I am again ahead of the story…

Like Van and his contract, your brain literally sees what it wants to see… even if that is not real. It constructs facts that match what it has seen before… unless you can slow it down and wonder what you are missing… what is not seen, or heard, or inferred. And it is particularly perilous as you ascend into leadership – where the common idea is you are paid for what you … know. And often that can work… until it doesn’t. And then you need to have either the ability to wonder yourself what you are missing, or have people around you that see it… Differently.

Those people blow your mind, saving you from decisions that the “facts’ in your head may support, but are actually wonders of your imagination. Differences in perspective that you need to either develop in yourself, or in those around you, so that your decisions are based on an integrated view. Differences that will challenge you, will even raise your anger, but can… in fact… slow down that supercomputer on your shoulders … to actually make better decisions. They are around you, and, like the hit that started a career that we still celebrate in spite of the contract, may come from a Brown Eyed Girl.

observing Differently

Your brain is an amazing invention, observing and integrating literally billions of bits of information every second. They measured the bandwidth of your eyes which is close to 9 GigaBytes a second. For reference, that amazing 4K TV you watch is about 25 MEGA bytes/second… so your eyes can actually send your brain 360 separate programs simultaneously. Use that when you get in trouble as I do for channel surfing. One they cannot do well is see a hot pan or in the dark, and in both cases, without other senses, you would get hurt… which is exactly the same in leadership.

Different partners

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! An interesting day like most modern holidays that has a Different story behind it than you may know. The day is supposedly the day he died and was buried in his adopted Ireland, and to celebrate that, the Lenten season’s ban on drinking is lifted for this day – and probably why there is so much of it 😉 After 20 days without, and anticipating 20 more days until Easter, it is a day to let it all hang out. And while the Irish were hated by most Americans when they arrived in the 1840s, we were more than happy to embrace any holiday that allowed a party…

Differences in management

Leadership and management are about making a Difference. Ask anyone who attempts it, and the motivation is to make things better, faster, more efficient, easier. Some definition of Different is embedded in both the role and the calling. Those who are not that role will often look up at them and wonder first why would anyone want that job, and then second, exactly what the heck are they talking about? Clearly, it is some other language, as what they are saying makes little or no sense to them…

engaging Differences

Turning to engage this week, we lost an hour… but that means we gain more evening on Wednesday … to celebrate the gift that Irish have been to the world, particularly to America. As a mutt myself, I have a special affinity for “… your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore”. And it gives me the excuse I need to write about one of the true giants of music, and hopefully tell some stories that are Different – which is what the musical soundtrack and this week’s theme start with. Differences – which has received a lot of attention but…

renewing your Values

Of all of the Values that most teams and leaders list, renewal is rarely on the list. Particularly the leaders who really “care” and talk about “servant leadership” and are those people you want to follow. They find it very hard to carve out time for the most important resource – themselves. As I start working with leaders, I realize that most of my real value is forcing them to spend an hour or so on… themselves. Sure I can bring some Value with my clever questions, listening, some observations, even some much-requested “advice”… but realistically… just getting them to focus on themselves is what I am paid to do now…

The Value of execution

For as long as I can remember, I have been working – and not in a negative way. I love doing things, solving problems, creating things, particularly when they are complicated. As an executive I had to realize that making things EASY was actually WAY more important… and also, WAY more difficult. The way I would explain this to you in-person would be to draw a Venn diagram – which most of you won’t even remember from Geometry or Algebra. The idea is you have a circle, I have a circle. Where they overlap, we share… objectives, deliverables, targets, mission, etc. Easy with 2… but when organizations are large, the execution overlap becomes smaller and smaller… sometimes the Null Set…

The no wonder Values..

Like most weeks, Friday’s wonder post is the easiest to figure out with both what I am going to say, and the musician that embodies that quality for the band. It is a rare treat that the story also aligns with the song title. And if you read these enough, you might guess the player I focus on the most is the Bass player – and this week you would be right. But I am already ahead of myself – one of my Values that is less helpful is being “Restless” – racing ahead and never being happy with where I am. It is what made me a great Youth worker at church, and an even better recruiter…

Values observed

Today we observe exactly a year from when the Coronvirus became viscerally real. It had been bounced around through the weeks since January, but most people acknowledge that when the NBA suspended their season on March 11, 2020, that was the gulp heard around the...

Are partners Valuable?

There is a point in every career where it is clear that alone, not only can the work not be accomplished, it will not be nearly as Valuable and rewarding. For me, it was always that way. In High School Debate I had a partner. My first job at Texas Instruments was shared with a partner who handled “business” software while I handled the technical programs. The remainder of my time there and well into IBM, I shared offices and roles with peers, some easier than others. Not everyone makes that shift, and there are many singular leaders who give the impression that it is all about “them”, and occasionally their Values of “the cult of personality” can survive and persist… but at what cost?

management Values

I guess I actually DO have a nickel for every time I stood up in front of a new team, as the “New Guy” and said, “Hi, I am Mark House, and here is what I am about.” Actually compounded over the years, it’s what allows me the freedom to do this crazy new career, helping others have THEIR speech ready for that opportunity when it comes. And I actually stole most of mine from other great leaders along the way, who I suspect stole theirs from others. Because managing with Values actually works… because people can normally tell what your Values are (or aren’t)… before you can.

The Value to engage

As the New Year is now entering the end of the 1st Quarter, the pace of work is picking up – both as the crisis appears to be receding, but also a normal part of each year. Budget’s being finalized, and most of the year-end Performance Reviews completed, businesses and leaders are now making decisions on where to focus. What projects need to be accelerated, those that may need to be slowed, and staffing that needs to shift. Simultaneously, employees are engaged in the same decisions – is this really the place for them now… or? And key to both is … Values.

Celebrating renewal

After the encouragement of my roommate, and after trying other ways of renewal that were less fulfilling, I found the group at our local church to be the major hub for activities and renewal. We would gather for meals occasionally during each week, and particularly on Sunday, with literally 12 guitar players, leading singing for maybe another 20-ish. Friday nights were often go-kart racing or other fun activities, including one Halloween party that we are all glad there were no cell phone cameras for – no real bad activities, but some that, seen 45 years later, might be judged differently…

Celebration execution

Politics, or trying to not write about it, had a hand in starting these columns years ago. After being active in High School, begrudgingly, I tried to stay out of it in college, but to no avail. I was spotted by a junior in my sophomore year, and he wanted to groom a successor. There was a Student Senate, and the Engineering School needed someone to be on it, and he suggested I ran – which I did and served for 3 of my 4 years. He also wanted me to take over the Student Engineers Joint Council (SEJC), the student leadership group for the School, which I also did. This was one reason I was standing in the middle of the road on a Friday night, missing a shoe, waiting for my girlfriend to pick me up… and likely be executed…

wonder how to Celebrate?

Parental Advisory – Explicit Content. ;-)… so I have wanted to write this post since I started writing these – literally. It is one of the greatest musicians, with the greatest names, and bundled into one of the best live bands ever… and there will be a lot of double and triple entendres and allusions that you will get, and some will probably miss… but whatever. Here we go, and I am indebted to my friend for suggesting we talk about J Geils – as I now have an excuse… as with newspapers, those of you reading this on LinkedIn and FaceBook will have to wonder what happens under the fold…

Celebrate or observe?

Explaining my empower framework to people, they will often ask me ‘Which one is the most critical?’ And like picking your favorite child, it is a fool’s errand as it mostly depends on the situation you are in. Pressed hard, it is a toss-up between today’s observe and tomorrow’s wonder. The interesting paradox to Celebrate this week is that the songs were literally released on the same single in 1971 – this is the A-side, and tomorrow’s is the B-side. Both were huge hits, but this was their first top 40 hit – cracking it at 39. And both were on the album titled, The Morning After… which makes the story today even more poignant…

partners to Celebrate

Yes, that picture is Faye Dunaway, and no that is not Frank Zappa. I always enjoy finding odd things to Celebrate about the artists, and try to tease just enough that if you really want to know more, you can. And with today’s theme being “partner”, this seemed like a perfect place to slot in a story about one of the other major players in the band, and also a short story about partners that I still Celebrate from those days at SMU in the ’70s…

managing Celebrating

Realizing that no one was actually listening made me question why I was giving my nights and weekends to being a college radio DJ. So after a few weeks, I stepped down, but what to do with my time? A few guys on the floor were starting to play guitar in the evenings, and I managed to bring mine back after a weekend at home. Politely, one of them that I was tutoring through Physics pulled me aside and suggested that I might want to switch over to Bass …. as I was actually never going to be good on guitar… honest feedback that many years later I still Celebrate…

Celebrating by engaging

As I headed west from Tyler, my destination was Dallas where I engaged in the fall of 1976 on my path to become an Electrical Engineer. One thing about engineering was once you picked which type (EE, ME, IE, etc), your class schedule was mostly set. To get through it all in 4 years, you had to take 18 hours a semester, and the classes were sequenced so your “planning” was mostly just filling in a few “electives” that were like ‘free spaces’ on the Bingo card. And being a good student, I ripped into the classes, including an 8 am MWF Statics class – a tough ME class required for all engineering majors…

Performing and renewing

After that jarring start yesterday, let’s take a more restful approach for today’s conversation. It is difficult to tell what is real and what is Performing, particularly as you consider another’s or your own stance on faith. Paradoxes of what is said versus what is done can be a conversation that goes in directions that are not renewing for anyone. For me, it has helped to realize it is more a dance, and sometimes the steps are not clear or easy, and balance is hard to hold…

executing the Performance

So who are you… really? A jarring way to start a Saturday conversation, but one that could be well-timed. Freed from your 9-5 commitments, what do you pick up and execute … first? As I have mentioned repeatedly, doing is what I do… Performing and acting. Resting happens only in the process of actually executing something to be completely honest. A weekend is best ended when there are activities that have been completed, things built, people entertained… you get the idea. Performing and execution go hand in hand in my world…

wonder who is Performing?

In my world, we talk a lot about Authenticity. Ironic as we also talk about Performing… and Presence… and lots of other catchphrases that are offered up as insights to help people become “better”. It is a wonder that we make any progress, with over 15,000 books published – each year, and the countless “self-help” blogs, video blogs, and writers like me giving you their pearls of wisdom to make it sound simple. I can offer this insight – it is not easy… but the trick I have found is don’t lose the ability to wonder what it is that makes you Perform at your best. There is always someone to help you in ways you can’t even imagine…

observing while Performing

Working under pressure has always been my “go-to”. Since I am now a coach, people think I have this all figured out, well I do. That IS what makes me tick. CHANGING that is not easy work as many have observed over the years. Threading the needle through difficult...

Your Partners in Performing

The First 90 Days is one of my favorite topics to work with new leaders on. That time is when they are at their freshest to see things that can really help business change and grow… and also are at the highest risk of stepping into things they are just starting to understand. As it is early in the year, I have a number that are on day 20-30 of that transition, and are feeling the compelling push to Perform – do SOMETHING… and another of my least favorite management “truisms” that is patently false – “Quick Wins”. They are rarely either, and most often damage your reputation with at least one partner.

What manages Performance?

There is an entire industry now built up around what is called “Vulnerability”. Brought to the forefront by researcher Brene Brown, now a legend, the concept is that deep inside all of us are fears that need to be managed. Left unchecked, they can get in the way of our best Performance, and often are topics that I work with leaders to understand and reframe – the coaching word for turning Lemons into Lemonade. The paradox often is that by not showing vulnerability in your early career, you appear to have it all figured out… which, to those of us later in our career, we can remember those days… and how Performance changes….

engaging Performance

A good friend was leading a workshop for leaders, and it caused me to pause. She enjoyed drama and theater, including music and dancing which we had discussed often… as hobbies. She was now offering training for managers on Improv, what they shortened “improvisation” to in Performance competitions. Perhaps from my days in Debate, where the Theater people were… “different” – a feeling they had about us also – I thought it was little off. What would Improv have to do with leadership? And then… I was called in to engage a team with…. no preparation…

The renewal of Harmony

It is appropriate that the week on Harmony ends where my first experiences were: singing at church. Growing up around the College Kids, in the early 60’s they would often be playing/singing Peter, Paul, and Mary songs, and watching them blend their voices “in renewal” encouraged me to learn how to do that. I don’t know exactly what “ear training” is, but there are pictures of me sitting with my Flute-o-phone and those kids where I was playing Harmony. Hearing the notes, and trying to get your brain/voice to match was a fun challenge, which eventually I mapped into reading music… sorta…

executing with Harmony

When teams are at their peak, there are ways of executing together that anyone outside of the team may or may not even be able to observe. Little looks and phrases become cues for Harmony that is hard to duplicate. While the reason for being together may be stressful, those hours of work start to build up muscles that become second nature. In one season, I was in meetings 3 times a day with the same people – 6 days a week. We got tight enough to really understand how to cover for each other’s faults, and build on the strengths in ways that most teams will never experience. What causes that Harmony?

The wonder in Harmony

Finally, we get to the song that triggered the week. I have been trying to be more explicit about leadership and management tips lately, and hopefully, you have gotten a few. Today’s story is so rich that I don’t have space (or the need) to point it out. So wonder with me …. by this point, The Fifth Dimension is well on their way, having won multiple Grammys with multiple platinum records. They were in New York City playing a series of concerts when Billy Davis noticed his wallet was missing – having fallen out in the cab he had just stepped out of. “Well, that’s gone…. “

observing Harmony

We were at the hospital for a procedure, and the nurse couldn’t get the IV started. Without missing a beat, another one came right over, picked up the work … and the conversation … without even missing a beat. As a keen observer of teamwork, I perked up and started to chat her up about what it is like to work here? “It is amazing – from the people who take out the garbage, to the staff that mops the floors, to the administrators who make sure we have what we need, we all come together to provide you with the best care”. We were then whisked off to another room, with a similar experience…. How does that type of Harmony happen?

partners for Harmony

In watching the Food Network with my wife, there is a catch-phrase: If You’re Looking, You’re Not Cooking. Exactly the opposite is true with leadership, particularly now. Before last year, at least talent was mostly limited to work they could drive to… and now, I know for a fact that people have started preparing for the annual spring job search with a NATIONAL target. The war for talent is only going to get more intense as you can work from anywhere, and what will they be looking for? Harmony and partnership – pure and simple. The number one reason people stay is the relationship with their leader…. And the main reason they leave is … exactly the same.

Is your management Harmonic?

Harmony is distinguished from Unison singing – everyone singing the exact same note together. When men and women sing together, even though they are singing the same note, they are often separated by an octave or more. But choosing a Harmony requires intensely listening to each other, and you will often see the singers lean in, cover an ear, and then either read a note or more likely, trust their well-trained ear to pick up a note that blends together with the others. As more singers are involved, you have to be careful to not only hit your note, but stay out of the way of the others… constantly juggling your own musical path with those around you…

engaging with Harmony

A meme popped up last fall pointing out, in February “…a whopping seven planets (the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, plus asteroid Pallas) will all be clustered together in the sign of Aquarius, creating what’s known as a stellium in astrology. This intense influx of Aquarius’ fixed air sign energy in February will shift our focus to humanitarian issues, technological advancements, and unconventional innovations. And these themes will guide the framework of our society throughout all of 2021 and the years ahead.” But didn’t we hear this already – in 1967 – the dawning of the Age of Aquarius?

renewing Rhythm… You and Your Calendar

The one remaining element of Rhythm critical to Management Hygiene is summarized with a single word: When? All of the work on priorities, partners, directs, strategic planning, even email fail… unless they make it onto your calendar. As I tell each leader: your calendar does not lie – it shows who, what, and why you do what you do, and the paradox is that managing the calendar is the easiest and hardest exercise we do. In one engagement a leader wanted to move from 12 hours a day to 8. As we examined each day, by Thursday, after eliminating no meetings, I moaned, “…so you don’t really want to work less..:”

Rhythm that executes… Email and Writing

I grew up with email. My class was the last class to learn slide-rule in high school, and the first to move from punched cards to a terminal. And it was just as inside IBM and outside networks were starting to connect remote people together in ways that are still taking over our lives. I took typing in high school, not to be an admin (like my first bosses thought), but because being able to do it well was the connection to the rest of the world. Interestingly, studies have shown that people hate email – it takes up way too much of their daily Rhythm and produces very little ROI – and yet, they can’t let go. So who is executing whom?

wonderful Rhythm… Strategic Planning

In the early weeks of the year, the Rhythm of many organizations is “Strategic Planning Meetings” – otherwise known as “…wonder what the heck do we do now?” It is the place where the realities of last year, the current market assessments, and the dreams of the future come together to set out goals for this year. Similar to “Feeding the Bear”, well-run organizations have what they projected for “this” year from last year’s “5-year plan”, and can simply reorient that to what is now happening. But particularly last year has probably thrown that up in the air… or has it? Who sees over the horizon that you need to find?

Rhythmic observation…Status Reports!

A basic element of any effective management system is “No Surprises”. “Simple but not easy” does not even start to describe this critical part of your Hygiene. In fact, I have used a fairly graphic way of describing it to leaders, probably driven by where I now live. Our street in Virginia has a Rhythm of what are politely called “Bear Interactions”, the largest in our area… and our area has the most in the whole state. So we fairly regularly have a bear walk past our house. In fact recently, we observed not 1… or 2… we had 3… on our deck. They were small, but like surprised leaders, they can pack a wallop….

partners with Rhythm

In the same spirit as 1-1 meetings, nothing is more important than Rhythmic conversations with peers and partners. It is complicated, as for most of your career you are “competing” with them, imagining that only one of you will get the step up. There is truth in that, but also that without good relationships, you will become more and more insulated. To stay with the musical metaphor, without the band, the lead guitarist is flashy… but rarely would be recognized. So who are your “bandmates”, and how do you sort out how to partner with them?

manage Rhythm.. 1-1 Meetings…

One of the first questions I used to ask leaders in our initial Coaching conversation was “How often do you meet with your direct reports?” More often than not, it was met with a few moments of puzzled silence, and then typically “Oh we talk every day!” The HARDEST thing about coaching is not letting your judgment enter into the conversation. But to be honest, I normally sigh, and, as I’m a terrible poker player, that usually takes the conversation into a different place. I have at least learned to back up and ask a better question: “What is your approach to management?”… which helps me deduce the same thing… do they use the Rhythm method?

engaging Rhythm…by Listening

Balance is hard to achieve in any endeavor… until you notice you are getting slightly off-center. When I conceived of this blog, it would be a little music, a little leadership, and a story to make it memorable. These last few weeks, the leadership insights were like many management books, “Be Like Me,” which I find… not helpful. I needed to re-engage to establish a new Rhythm. The backbeat: it is Black History Month, so an African American artist focusing on Rhythm – what I call “Management Hygiene.” … there is only one person…

A renewing Outcome

The summer of 1976 was full of global events, and for me, I had 2 remaining Outcomes to close before heading off to college. First, ironically I had gotten good enough at Student Congress - an actual NFL event - to qualify for the National Debate Tournament in...

execution Outcomes

High School’s end was rapidly approaching, an Outcome that we had all been working towards for 12ish years. Our class was graduating in a momentous year - 1976 - the BiCentennial, so additional press coverage by the newspaper and local TV station were invited. It...

Outcomes to make you wonder

Wandering through my High School years I played a bit in the political space. It was an interesting use of my ability to speak and think on my feet, and I was on the Student Congress as a Sophomore and a Junior. I was not a very active member, but loved wondering...

observing Outcomes

By my Junior year in High School, I had found at least the beginnings of who I was becoming. Now officially on the Debate Team, I spent the summer at a camp for Debaters at TCU. Yes… I am a real nerd - who actually spent 2 weeks preparing, studying, and practicing...

Seeing partners Outcomes..

Texas is not friendly to mass transportation. A mix of the frontier mentality, setting out to control your destiny, and then floating in oil, everywhere you go is in a car. Particularly as you came of age, you would get your license, and then head out on the town…....

managing Outcomes

First a sincere apology – I managed to write about Healing… 2 weeks back, and lost track. I originally planned (yes, I can plan…) to write about Healing with Cat, but we detoured through The Partridge Family. The last week or so I have spent in Texas with my family...

engaging Outcomes

Growing up short, I always had tall friends. Subconsciously, it seemed that I was attracted to them - and also those that were older. Since everyone was, I was not particularly tied into a specific “class” and found myself actually more aligned with the class even...

A Decision to renew…

As I was reaching the end of Junior High, I started to feel like I wanted to renew my faith by leaving my parent’s church. Not their faith - that was, and is, a lifelong gift I have from them and has never been in doubt. But there was another Methodist church in...

executing Playful Decisions…

My 14th birthday came near the end of the 9th grade, as I was about to head into High School. One of the Decisions my parents made was to push me up an entire year… and in Texas where kids were often held back so they were older/bigger for Football that meant many of...

wonderful Decisions

So who are we… really? If you study Ancestry family trees or watch Finding Your Roots on PBS, you see the family trees that create the web of life around us. The paradox is looking backward there are all these Decisions that created you… and then, looking the other...

A Decision to observe…

When my father observed that I was interested in photography and actually reasonably good at it, he Decided to buy me my own camera. The Rolliflex was a great piece of equipment with fantastic lenses and shot huge negatives that were 2 ¼” square. It was truly a...

partner Decisions…

Like everyone, I knew of Einstein, but the assignment was to give a live talk in costume for 10 minutes… and no pressure - it was only half your grade for that semester of 8th Grade. I already had an interest in science, but Deciding to spend hours partnering with...

managing Decisions…

I have written before about my best friend in Junior High and High School being Jewish. It was very clear to both of us that we really did not fit in, and at least I had only to stick it out for 5 years before I got out of East Texas. He had been raised there, his...

Decisions to engage…

Having missed Texas History, normally taught in 7th grade while I was in Florida, I found myself engaged in an advanced World History class taught by a relatively young woman teacher. She really knew how to keep us challenged, and again it was an interdisciplinary...

What is Efficient renewal?

Listen on iTunes My father was an Industrial Engineer, which he would remind you meant he had to master the hardest parts of ALL of the engineering disciplines. Schooled in drafting and lettering, he was rarely without a pencil and graph paper. That field...

executing Efficiently

So back to my teen years, and now I was “old enough” to be some help on the farm in Lubbock. Archie - everyone called my Grandfather that - had 200+ acres about 10 miles south of town, and I would spend 2 to 4 weeks of every summer out in the High Plains. I would...

The wonder of In-Efficient…

Listen on iTunes The wonder is at this point in my story, the LAST band I would have listened to was Asleep at the Wheel. My negative framing would have been “... an unoriginal cover band for music from an Okie - with lots of twangy steel guitar. Yuck”....

observing Efficiently…

Listen on iTunes When I was a small baby, my parents were out visiting Mom’s folks in Lubbock, Texas. My Grandmother kept babies in her home for much of her life, and as such knew a lot about them, and had other resources that she would draw on. One of her...

partner Efficiency

Listen on iTunes One thing that was big in East Texas were formal dances. No exaggeration, there were no less than 9 formal dances… a year. In fact, the Senior Prom when I got there was INFORMAL just to be different than the others. There was...

Efficient management

Listen on iTunes Breaking into the tight community that Tyler is was not something that anybody could manage Efficiently… much less an 8th grader. The money center for the Oil-rich area of East Texas, the bankers and lawyers they needed were now surrounded by...

The Efficiency of engaging

Listen on iTunes If you have noticed these postings being more coherent, better written, and easier to understand, it is due to my new partner/editor/producer. He has engaed each evening to sort out what I am trying to say, and providing insights that I think...

The renewal of Healing

If you needed another reason to dislike Texas, it hosts all 4 of the poisonous snakes, in addition to spiders and scorpions typical for the Southwest. East Texas was heavily wooded, compared to the near-desert conditions of West Texas, and in the leaves of those...

Healing execution…

Something that gets executed along with music is dancing. And generally speaking, that involves someone of the opposite sex, which somewhere in Junior High start to appear - different - but in a better way. And whether it is right or wrong, again it typically falls...

The Healing of wonder…

We moved to Florida when IBM started a facility there. Dad’s career needed a rotation through a “development lab” where he would understand what is involved in designing computers. It also brought some hands-on experience from customers and the “field” that ensured...

How does observing Heal?

One universal comment from people of my generation about the current times is “Thank GOODNESS there is no video to observe what we did in our youth”. As I start each week, after many comments from people observing “man do you hop around a lot!”, I now at least try to...

Healing partners

The first song that came on when I requested The Partridge Family is today’s offering, I’ll Meet You Halfway - perfect for the partner discussion. So exactly what does that really mean? When I was doing research on the song, all kinds of negotiation web sites came...

managing Healing

We moved to Florida when I was 10, halfway through 6th grade. Younger than my peers by at least a year, small to begin with, from Texas, I didn’t fit in on many levels. The Partridge Family started in the fall of 1970 just as I was entering the 7th grade, and my Mom...

Can Healing engage?

One thing I noticed last year was how the choice of music affected my mood. It always recharges me, but some music does that in different ways. That led me to intentionally engage in the various genres of music, some of which are not necessarily in my wheelhouse. ...

The renewing concept of Goals…

Wrapping up my current project, I am writing a paper to tie the software/hardware purchased back to what the organization was trying to do. Computer systems and software can do just about anything… and most organizations aren’t really clear on where they are going....

Could you execute these Goals?

Goals are simply statements... until they are executed, measured, and then revised. If you follow the state of the art in project management, that cycle has gotten shorter and shorter, to the point that now Agile Sprints are measured in weeks. The dirty secret...

wondering Goals…

It’s Kickoff season in most businesses, where Goals for this year are described in big meetings with lots of hurrahs and fanfare. In well-managed businesses, last year’s Goals will be measured soon after in the performance management process where each individual...

A Goal to observe…

I started this blog to explicitly keep me from writing and commenting about politics, and I don’t plan to start now... other than to point out the songs for this week, including yesterday’s and today’s were chosen last week. I do see the irony in that, and will add...

What Goals do partners have?

While we were both enjoying our classic cars, the business itself was in a tailspin. The CEO had decided that the cash cow product line needed to be rewritten in the new language that was “perfect” - Java. After nearly 3 years, a version was running about half as...

How Goals manage…

At the end of the day, Goals are made for management. This is why I find it fascinating that so few managers actually use them in a consistent way - for the teams or more surprisingly, for themselves. And I was no different - I headed into corporate America out of...

So…will your Goals engage?

Welcome to the official start of 2021! This Monday is the first of many days that stand out on the calendar every year, and are circled with a unique energy. Hopefully, you got some time away from the grind of last year, took to heart that this year will be...

The renewal of Retrospectives…

Living in the DC area, we would always have a snow/ice storm sometime in December. Having been set up for “work from home” literally since 1992 (with an ISDN line…), I would save that day or so to stay home and write reviews. Watching the snowfall, and hearing about...

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