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?

What are your plans for the new year? How will you be as intentional as possible in defining this year, as opposed to passively letting the year define you?

Here are a few thoughts for you if you’re feeling the nudge to put some stakes in the ground.

A CEO frustrated with his board.
A Board frustrated with its CEO.
A Partner frustrated with his partner.
A Partner frustrated with HIS partner.
A CEO frustrated with her COO.
A COO frustrated with his CEO.
Boy, I run across these scenarios too often. I use the word “frustrated” because it represents the middle ground between “I want to have [...]

“I thought his press conference the other day was brilliant; though brilliant might be the wrong word to use at a time like this. I think you saw compassion and that first day you saw leadership. He was a strong presence. He had human interest stories and he had honesty when he said, ‘I’ve never dealt with this before.’ When you’re sitting there you’ve got a guy who is strong, compassionate and has a plan.”

- The Washington Post, 12.1.07

The Leader: Joe Gibbs, President and Head Coach.

The audience: players and coaches of the Washington Redskins football team.

The challenge: Leading the team in the aftermath of player Sean Taylor’s sudden death.

What talk have you given to the players in your organization in the past 30 days? What was the challenge? How would the reviews have read on your leadership performance?

I’m always interested to see a list of “top leadership traits.” When I was still running a company, I would scan it and see how I measured up. Perhaps you do this.

On November 19th, the Wall Street Journal had this article:

“Tough CEOs Often Most Successful, a Study Finds.”

A week later, also in the WSJ, this title:

“Are You CEO Material? Find Out With This Test.”

Both articles referred to the same recent University of Chicago business school study. From the study, “here are five CEO traits that correlate most closely with business success . . . :” (Check yourself)

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.