“I think my biggest challenge right now is time management.”

I ask this Leader, “how, exactly, are you spending your time?” “Well, I’m doing this and this and this . . .” he rattles off the list of meetings (that’s always a big culprit!), phone calls, studying of reports, returning emails, etc. that occupy every leader’s day. The “activity” list comes easily.

When I sense he’s starting to wind down, I ask “what are the most important things you need to be doing right now? What are the key results you need to achieve today . . . this week?”

This brings a pause, hesitation.

Isn’t this a great challenge for all of us? Maintaining a clear understanding of what results we need to be focused on — from our vantage point as Leader of the organization? The blizzard of ACTIVITY white’s out our perspective on RESULTS.

My colleague Chris Cavanaugh recently made the observation that people find themselves in one of two groups these days: lamenting or inventing.

Many of us are looking backwards and lamenting. We grieve what has been taken away, either from us personally, or someone we know:

* our retirement account
* our job
* our house
* our club membership
* our assumptions about the way life works
* our confidence that we know what we are doing

“Lieutenant McKinnon, you are dead!”

I’ll never forget those words, barked at me by the Captain evaluating me on a dusty, hot morning at Fort Knox, Kentucky, early in my officer training. I was leading a six-man team of fellow officers through a series of Leadership Simulation Exercises — the Army’s version of leadership training scenarios like you might encounter in an Outward Bound-type setting. We had a problem, in this case, getting our entire team to the other side of a “room” laced with tripwires and “explosives,” that we had to solve in a limited amount of time. Rapid-fire assessment, delegation, direction-setting, monitoring and action were demanded in a pressure-filled, time-limited environment. The grade would either by Mission Accomplished or Mission Failure — no in-between.

Sound like one of your days at the office?

The recent surge in suicides seems to parallel the surge in bad news that is touching all Leaders in some way right now. While only a few choose to take their life, many other Leaders are feeling the pressures build and the options fade. And herein lies more opportunity for bad choices . . .

I’ve grown weary of reading the bad news in the print and internet media over the past week (see what I did about it at the bottom of this post).  So I decided to look at the Leaders I see in action around me who are writing their own headlines . . .
CEO, CFO review [...]

Many are calling these events [in the financial markets] unprecedented. Leaders can be paralyzed by them; or they can “choose” to grow and respond accordingly.

A CEO in New York shared a conundrum with me a few weeks ago. It involved money – the CEO’s compensation, to be specific.

A member of the Board had approached him with a request. A major portion of this Leader’s compensation for the year would come in the form of a stock bonus tied to hitting annual budget targets. At the mid-year mark, it was clear to the Board that the company would not hit the targets. The Board wanted to reward the CEO with the bonus anyway, and they were asking him to provide new (i.e. ‘lower’) targets that he and the company would be sure to hit. The request did not sit well with the CEO.

What guides your significant leadership decisions?

I’m learning that effective leaders cultivate simplicity.
Simplicity begets . . . Clarity begets . . . Focus begets . . . ACTION!
When I first begin working with Leaders, here’s a sampling of questions we discuss:

How clear are you on what your organization most needs from you as Leader today?
How succinctly could your direct reports [...]