SENDING A MESSAGE BY THE WORDS ON YOUR SHIRT.

Interspersed with the professionally manicure lawns

of the estates and clubs surrounding Lake Geneva,

 The public walking path provides the public with a

tiny aperture into how” the other half lives”.

 

At times, we literally  cross paths with the seasonally residents.

Unlike the stereotypical view we have,

many of the nouveau riche, stop, smile, share small talk,

 and then meander dockside to board

their yachts for an afternoon on this beautiful lake.

 

Sounds rising from one yard facing the lake reminds one

of frat parties, neighborhood gatherings, good times wherever

the clan is gathered.

Well heeled brokers and industrialists, men and women in

their 20’s and 30’s laughing up a good natured storm

Playing a stylish game of croquet.

No F bombs, or lewd behavior, or drunken  sodomy

A  “real people”, mid western gala on an August afternoon.

 

The elders, 50 some things sit astride lawn chairs admiring

Their progeny, the next generation to  inherit  what is good and golden

about this playground in Southern Wisconsin.

 

I assumed, apparently incorrectly that these elders were role models

People leading and setting an example for the offspring.

Silver haired, wearing dockers and ECCO sandals a 6’ guy with a

Booming voice sauntered slowly across a lawn that reminded me of

Amen corner at Augusta National.

What was out of sequence> Something amiss with the rest of this

Upper class picture of endearment and prosperity?

A bright red shirt! Could I be so fortunate to meet another Phillies Fan?

His belly bulging a bit, he shouted a loud “ How the Hell are ya?” in my direction.

Startled, stopping in my tracks, my trifocals attempting to read the message on his shirt.

He had turned to wave back towards the porch – the word “ You” came into focus.

Yes, you guessed it – the front said “Fuck”.

Confused? I am .. and hope you are too.

What exactly is the message being conveyed? What does the wearer  tell us about himself,

 Our society,, etc.

Yes, he is an upper level C executive and business owner: a house in Naples, this is his

playground for a few months in the summer.

He offered that he shirt is his “playtime uniform”.  The summertime crowd knows he is almost Victorian

in Business ethics and on Wall Street.  Why I ask was everyone else a paragon of virtue being

dressed as if they had just stepped out of an upscale leisure magazine.

No answer had he –

The leader of the pack – I wondered what others really thought: or will they follow his example?

Just curious – what message Is he really trying to send? 

 

FOLLOWERSHIP – A SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION FROM LEADERSHIP

Always #1 in her class: star athlete on the soccer team: class president, Then a meteoric rise up the corporate ladder of an international manufacturing firm. Hired as a financial analyst she soon was sitting with the suits in the board room. Travel abroad, An influential voice, she led others to buy into and implement the firm’s vision. Charismatic, verbose, she has been a recognized leader wherever the waves of career life have taken her.
The economic downturn crushed her upward climb. It’s not easy for a 35 year old with a base salary of $300,000 to land on her feet after being “downsized” by a firm which soon shuttered its doors forever.
With a rolodex of hundreds of contacts, networking her way into interviews was relatively easy. The employment offers were, to say the least, startling. Positions at the top of organizational pyramids are limited during a time of economic contraction.
Eventually a position as a vice president of this and that in a stable, family owned firm became available and she accepted.
She found herself posited in a nondescript office, no windows, no executive assistant . A minion in a company where change, out of the box thinking, and the aggressive charge to gain market share are anathema to the family decision makers.
The suits walk past her office on the way to the board room. Arms filled with binders, charts, and folders with power point slides. Determined, shoulders back, and air of confidence that she remembers well. The chit chat of decision makers fills the corridors.
Meetings end, the directors head off for an extended lunch . Fond memories of when she was a power broker.
Afternoon arrives, and it is time for the post board – 2 o’clock “ status meeting”. It is the time where an “overview is presented” – where she is expected to sit, listen, smile, and agree. Then it’s delegation time. Study this, get statistics on that, develop a strategy for program implementation. Oh yes, she has the opportunity for input, ideas and recommendations. But the real gutsy broad strokes of decision making are made in the board room.
She knows better strategies and more efficient ways of moving the company forward. Biting her tongue, suppressing her intellect are the challenges of the moment. Being a follower requires loyalty, patience, and caution. Three qualities that she expected of others on her way up the corporate ladder. A visionary, she is now expected to think in the immediate – the short term. The subtle permutations of decision making are not of her concern.
Can she suppress, until the next opportunity presents itself, her natural gifts of leadership and charismatic decision making?
Being a successful follower requires a somewhat different/ but complimentary skill set of a leader. For our former executive, the following are some characteristics of being a successful follower:
• Self management
• Commitment
• Focus
• Skill mastery
• Courage – credibility and honesty
• Critical thinking- leaning forward into the situation at hand while anticipating future requirements
• Highly participative
• Courageously dissents, shares credit, habitually exercises superior judgment
• Active (not passive) team member.
As a follower do you embody these characteristics?
As a leader – do you expect followers to embody these characteristics which ultimately serve as the foundational skills for leadership development? Perhaps you might want to consider them as part of your next leadership skills program.

There are leaders and then there are followers

Leadership Without A Compass

The spectacle of a captain less mega oil tanker aimlessly adrift in the Arctic’s environmentally
sensitive waters with millions of gallons of crude oil spewing forth into the pristine backwaters is almost unthinkable. Who can forget the images of oil coated waterfowl fighting for their lives after the Exxon Valdez spillage?
A few survived: strength, luck, and help from human care providers.
The parallel with leaderless leaders? Leaderless leaders?
While coaching management and owner teams, it has been a surprising discovery to find the number lacking a designated or even de facto captain. This void occurs within a partnership where neither party wants to assume responsibility for the executive roles. Other times, a legacy owner simply doesn’t want to lead the firm which has been handed down from a relative: or a husband/wife team grow a boot strap business and suddenly find they have a growing employee base, demanding customers, and supplier issues – but neither wants to be the CEO.
A surprising number of small and midsized firms have these “ leadership vacuums”. There is no acting, in charge president, or senior partner. The decision making buck stops – no where. Decisions are made in a collaborative mode. Translated, decisions are delayed or deferred. In the case of partnerships, both individuals may become masters of decision making avoidance.
They claim not to want to offend their partner while not wanting to face the human and financial concerns of running a successful enterprise: “ let me sell, or track costs, or run a project” , I’m comfortable with that “ is the familiar refrain I hear.
In the course of coaching dozens of “leaders” over the past decade, I have identified a consistently missing element present in these operationally challenged firms. There is an absence of leader generated, employee informed VISIONS. As with the aimless direction of the captain less tanker, the visionless leader and their company lack direction, purpose, and the defined drivers essential to capturing the opportunities of the future.
Consequently employees do not buy into the entreaties of management, have generally low morale, and see their work as “just a job”. The firm reacts to the whims of the marketplace rather than controlling its destiny. Survival rather than success become the mantra. Visionless, like walking in the dark of night without a destination or purpose.
Company captains who have defined who their firm is: where they are aimed, and in what time frame, describe the process as “ someone turned on the lights”. Suddenly and with enthusiasm there is a direction, a purpose, an raison d’etre. Imagine ! Now they can now stand up in front of employees and stakeholders and complete the mantra of a Big Ten University which is WE ARE ………………… Employees now have that brisk walk in their step all going in the same direction: The GPS voice is telling the same message to EVERYONE in the firm: in 2 years we will be the best at what we do.

A leader's compass

Thoughts about Movers and Shakers

Elation, deep inner satisfaction, a platform for future development
Borne of challenge, sometimes family ,economic hardship or inner drive.
Growing steadily through the years. Confidence building on confidence.
Learning that every challenge is an opportunity- to succeed and problem solve
No mountain too high: The Freudian Ego leads from a perspective of “I”, follow me
Rather than the impish “we”. Social scientists be dammed.

People to people interaction is always a critical component.
Instilled with a sense of doing things faster, higher, better than your peers.
Uniquely solving problems, deducting a more innovative way.
Taking the risk to lead: even when failure is a possibility.
The satisfaction of success far out weights the temporary pain of failure/

Being respected: not always applauded, while accruing a lifetime legions of followers.
Confrontational, but able to smooth over differences and emerge even more respected.
Innately able to reading people: their personalities, strengths, weaknesses.
Bringing disparate group of people together, motivating them, being the “informal leader”
Sometimes mystified by “ why did they choose me” – while inwardly on fire with
Desire to be more, to be recognized in public, to sit at the head of the table/

Realizing you have been given the gift of a “presence”, charisma, charm ->whatever
That unknown, elusive, but somehow recognizable element that moves others.
Pulls people to be more than they can imagine:
Pushes only when all else fails.

Intellectually brighter than most: intuitively smarter :
Fiercely loyal to an established coda of values and beliefs:
Honest, truthful, and trusting in a higher power.
And being secure that what people see is what they get:
Internally and externally transparent and consistent
Making sure the King is always wearing clothes.

Leaders take risks