Okay Leadership students. Take out your pen and paper and answer this question for today’s pop quiz:

What is your vision for how you will change or grow as a Leader between now and December 31st?

Pause to think about your answer before reading further . . . .

Labor Day is upon us. A change of seasons. With it, daily indications that the worst of the economy’s downturn is behind us. Some leaders have been stuck in neutral with their companies — trying every trick in the book but unable to grow sales. Others have continued to (painfully) cut employees and close stores — trying to stay afloat and ahead of the lenders. And some have been weathering things well, but have shifted themselves into neutral for summertime.

Well, it’s time to get to work — opportunity awaits! What is your vision for where you want to be 120 days from now?

“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

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.

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 [...]

I’ve noticed that corporate Strategy and corporate Culture often show up in separate conversations with Leaders.

In fact, focus on corporate strategy . . . execution . . . results often receives far greater attention than the corporate culture in which those results are generated.

Why do we have Strategic Planning off-sites, but we don’t have Culture Retreats? We have Performance Reviews and Strategic Reviews, but . . . what would a Culture Review look like? My guess is a 90:10 ratio between activity spent on strategy / performance review and culture. What’s the ratio at your company? When is the last time your executive team sat down to focus specifically on your corporate culture?

I’ve learned that Culture will eat Strategy for lunch every day of the week . . . unless they are intentionally linked.