a week in the life...

Crazy week of meeting with really cool people...I spent time with Concordia's newest Dean of Science and Math, Dr. Janet Whitson, talking about the importance of external relations and how to balance that with all of the internal demands this job puts on us.  I was able to demonstrate for her what I meant by that the next few days as I:

- met with COB alumnus Nick Cmerek who recently became a CPA and is working for a small firm in Austin
- met with COB Advisory Board member Amar Ramakrishnan who recently took a new position with a start up and is expecting his second child soon - put me on to the book This Will Make You Smarter: 150 New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking and Learning (a must read).  Follow Amar on Twitter @staysmall
- met with Dr. Kathryn Davis from Huston-Tillotson Business School and Concordia MBA student JC Otero about creating a data base for mentoring.  Great discussion and great new colleague
- met with COB alumnus Robby King who is working for Big Commerce and is doing incredibly well - loves his job!  find out more at www.bigcommerce.com
- met with a group of ECHO membersat the offices of I & O Communications (with CEO Elyse Yates - www.iando.com) to brainstorm marketing and PR plans for ending homelessness in Austin.  Find out more about this great organization at www.austinecho.org
- met with Doug Bain of Bain Consulting (a new acquaintance that was facilitated by COB Advisory Board member Debbie Leverett).  Doug is a brilliant thinker and also serves on the Board for Conspiare.  Follow Doug @BainConsulting
- ended the week yesterday by meeting with the new Manager of Community Engagement for the Texas RFO of Thrivent Financial - Scott Armey.  While at that event, ran into Kurt Senske (Lutheran Social Services), Nicole Griesse (COB Alum who works at Lutheran Social Services), Dick Moeller (Water to Thrive), Chad Thompson (Thrivent), Kristen Cantu (Thrivent), and Dan Zieschang (Lutheran Social Services).

On top of all these exciting and great meetings during the week, I think I also got everything else done that was required internally.  What really excites me is to see what will happen in the future as a result of my external relations during this past week.  Just a glimpse into my life and the REALLY COOL PEOPLE I get to meet all the time.  Are you taking the time to meet new and exciting people each week?

revolutionary leadership

Two of the books I read over my vacation and Summer Reading Feast included biographies (LARGE biographies!) of Che Guevara and Malcolm X.  Since both of these men were assassinated prior to my 10th birthday, I missed all of the action and rhetoric that took place during their lifetimes - and for the most part was shielded from them and their accomplishments growing up (remember the days when communism = evil?).  I told someone this past week that I would have had the grand triumvirate if I had read the biography of Mao as well.  What struck me about both Che and Malcolm X is that they were considered revolutionaries...the same word that was used for the founding fathers of the United States of America.  And yet, my history books would never have put John Adams and George Washington in the same sentence as Che Guevara and Malcolm X.

Politics aside, I was struck by the way revolutionary leaders mobilize people and make things happen.  What would it mean for you and me to be a revolutionary leader?  Here are a few principles I gained about leadership - revolutionary leadership - as I read these biographies:

• revolutionary leaders are committed to a cause.  They see the need for change and work to make it happen.  Che was willing to join Fidel Castro in in the fight for liberation of Cuba - but his vision went much farther than one country.  He worked in both Africa and Bolivia to bring about change.
• revolutionary leaders act from an inner sense of mission.  Both Che and  Malcolm did a lot of soul searching to understand what was important to them and WHY they were doing what they did.  Whether it was a long motorcycle journey or time spent in prison, they did the necessary INNER WORK to prepare them for their callings.
• revolutionary leaders are articulate.  Malcolm X was a great speaker, and was able to articulate his message in a away that drew others to the cause.  Taking the time to craft the right message, and then learning to deliver it in a powerful manner are both an important part of using the voice as a tool of influence.
• revolutionary leaders mobilize others.  A revolution does not happen if it only involves a few people.  Bringing others on board, organizing them, and deploying them into action were all techniques that allowed both Che and Malcolm to accomplish what they set out to do.  These leaders thought and acted strategically, engaging others in the process.
• revolutionary leaders never worry about time spent on the cause.  Both Che and Malcolm suffered physically because of the time they spent doing their work.  There are no 8 hour work days for this type of leader - whether it is writing, speaking, organizing, traveling, or meeting with others, they use as many hours of the day they can to accomplish their mission.
• revolutionary leaders are seen as a threat by others.  The mere word "revolutionary" strikes fear into most people's hearts, because it means deep change.  When leaders articulate a vision that challenges the status quo, others begin to see them as a threat and actively work to stop them.  Both Che and Malcolm X had multiple enemies (often from within their own organizations) and were fearful for their lives much of the time.
• revolutionary leaders are willing to put their lives on the line for a cause.  It might have been easy for either Che or Malcolm to go into hiding once they knew they were being hunted, and yet they both moved forward in their causes to the point of an early and tragic death.  While one's mission may not lead them to this point, given other circumstances how many leaders would be willing to press forward knowing their actions might cause their death?

Whether one believes that Che Guevara or Malcolm X are truly great leaders or not, it is hard to deny that they exemplified the aspects of what leaders do best - they had a vision they believed in; they articulated that vision among others; they drew people to a common cause; they acted in a manner to bring that vision about; and they were not afraid to make things happen even when times got tough.  What cause would it take for you - or me - to become a revolutionary leader?  And where throughout the world today do we need more revolutionary leaders to enact positive change?

Summer Reading Feast

I just returned from a month in Maine, and am ready to report on what I like to refer to as my Summer Reading Feast...28 days of good food, good movies, and good books.  Prior ot my trip, someone asked me if I did any "professional" reading on vacation or whether it was just for pleasure.  My reply to them sounded something like this: "I am always reading for pleasure - and I am always reading professionally.  Since I read with my leadership lenses on, it is professional; and since I love to read so much, it is pleasureable."  My Summer Reading Feast is often both a series of planned books (I put aside books all year long to take with me to Maine) as well as serendipitous (we have access to a great bookstore and my favorite public library in the world...not to mention Amazon).  While I don't plan any themes, several often emerge.  What follows is a quick overview of my Summer Reading Feast (with more to follow in weeks to come):

Fiction: I am a HUGE fan of fiction in that it helps me understand the "other" in my relationships with people.  I have also come to realize that great fiction is often wasted on the young, so I try to re-read many of the great novels I read (or didn't read) in high school and college during this Summer Reading Feast:

• The Financier - Theodore Dreiser
• The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Sodom and Gommorah - Marcel Proust (vol. 4 of Remembrance of Things Past)
• The Odyssey - Homer (trans. Fagles)
• To Have and Have Not - Ernest Hemingway
• Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
• Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout (a collection of stories about life in Maine)
• State of Wonder  - Ann Patchet

Non-Fiction: During the Summer Reading Feast, I get to spend about 8 hours a day reading, so it is time to tackle the "big books" that are sitting on my shelf all year long (sometimes longer):

• Che - Jon Lee Anderson
• Macolm X - Manning Marable (one of my favorite books of the summer)
• The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris - John Baxter
• A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway (okay, some fiction, some non-fiction)
• Falling Upwards: A Spirituality for the Second Half of Life - Richard Rohr
• A Kierkegaard Anthology - ed. by Robert Bretall

Graphic Novels: The Blue Hill LIbrary has a wonderful collection of graphic novels, so I decided to expand my repertiore in this area:

• My Friend Dahmer - Derf Beckderf
• Black Hole - Charles Burns
• Are You My Mother? - Alison Bechdel
• The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb
• Maus I - Art Spiegelman
• A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

I will expand some thoughts on these books in future blogs, noting the leadership lessons learned while reading them.  I hope everyone gets a chance to have some type of Summer Reading Feast, using the time for professional and pleasurable reading.

questions

I have written often about the power of questions and how they might be used in leadership roles.  Yesterday I had the privilege of addressing the Austin Chapter of the National Speakers Association, a wonderful group of people whose life calling is to teach.  They don't necessarily teach in the traditional sense, but they do so through their speaking, their writing, their coaching and their consulting.  Got to hang out with really cool people like Patti DeNucci (check out her new book The Intentional Networker), Teri Hill (an outstanding coach and presenter), and Annie Barron Wilson (whose book Openness Works is available for free on her website). 

Today's blog features two items from my talk - a quote and a list.  First the quote, which is taken from the book Learning as a Way of Leading written by Stephen Preskill and Stephen Brookfield (a book which has quickly become one of my top 10 leadership reads).  This quote is taken from the chapter entitled "Learning to Question."

Learning how to question is one of the foundational skills of leadership.  Without it there is no inquiry, no learning, no movement forward and no readiness to take stock of where we have come as a guide for where we might go.  Leaders who learn must be highly proficient at questioning, skillful at modeling it on themselves as well as others, and always ready to support it in colleagues and collaborators.  Their goal is to make questioning a communitywide practice.  The word "questioning" is derived from the word "quest."  When we pose questions we initiate a quest, a journey into the unknown or the poorly understood.  Through questions we search out the unknown or the unfamiliar, but we also reexamine the familiar.  Sharp, incisive, focused questioning has a way of pushing people forward to uncover more.  So questioning is part of the quest to live more fully and adventurously (p.127).

Second, here is the reading list I prepared for the group.  There are so many more I should have added, but wanted to keep it to a half-page.  Several of these books have been game changers for me - powerful testaments to how to approach life, and especially how to approach leading.  Enjoy the list...

Learning as a Way of Leading by Stephen Preskill and Stephen Brookfield

Community: The Structure of Belonging by Peter Block
The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization by Peter Drucker
The Answer to How is Yes by Peter Block
What? By Mark Kurlansky
Turning to One Another by Margaret Wheatley
Leadership Can Be Taught by Sharon Daloz Parks
Start With Why by Simon Sinek
The World Café: Shaping Our Futures through Conversations That Matter by Juanita Brown
Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There: 10 Principles for Leading Meetings that Matter by Marvin
Weisboard and Sandra Janoff
Dialogue: The Art of Thinking Together by William Issacs
Discussion as a Way of Teaching: Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms by Preskill and Brookfield

why are we here?

This past Tuesday evening, I walked into The Concordia MBA class in San Antonio and was greeted by smiling faces and excited students (OK, I know that sounds like a plug, but bear with me on this).  The professor (not me) began the class with the question, "Why are we here?" and the class responded, "To make a difference!"  I was so happy...it was such a natural response for them (they actually begin every class with this opening) and very heartfelt.  I followed it up with "What does that mean for each of you?" and the conversation flowed from there. 

I have shared that story many times over the past few days, and the reaction is always the same..."That's very cool!"  I agree - I think there is such a strong "coolness" factor in beginning the class that way because it reminds our students of the purpose of why we do what we do.  The Concordia MBA was designed for students who want to make an impact...who want to lead successful and meaningful lives...who want to make a difference.  This seemingly simple exercise (some may even call it corny) sets the tone for the entire class session (and entire program) that reminds both teacher and student that the learning that is going to take place has a larger purpose than a grade or a diploma - the learning is happening so that the world can be a better place.

So when have you recently asked yourself or your colleagues the questions of why you or they are here (wherever that "here" might be)?  And of course the followup question needs to be "and why have I/we responded the way I/we did?"  Digging into the WHY of what we do is incredibly important, becasue it gives meaning to the WHAT of our daily lives.  Simon Sinek's book Start with Why is an incredible read as it helps the reader get a better grasp of the importance of asking the WHY question as well as tools to help move the process forward (thanks to Concordia alumnus Austin Smith for reminsing me of this book yesterday).  Similar to the post of several weeks ago of getting everyone to understand and work from the same theory, getting people to operate from the same WHY may be even more important.  The WHY behind the WHAT provides energy and excitement into our daily lives.

I recently have had the chance to consider the WHY behind what I do on a daily basis, and I came to the understanding that my role is to create an environment in which Concordia faculty, students, and community partners can come together to learn and put into practice ideas that create better organizations.  Whether that happens in a classroom, or in a work environment, or through promoting the annual Ethics in Business Awards which supports The Samaritan Center in Austin, or simply having a dialogue with a friend, at the end of the day I believe that better organizations create a better community...better communities provide a place where people are more free to live an abundant life...and ini living that abundant life the Kingdom of God is made manifest througout that community.  I like that WHY...and I'll think of that as I continue my work today.

when it needs to be your agenda

Normally, I am not a big fan of talking a lot at meetings that I run.  I believe that a well run meeting is one in which the person who convenes the meeting asks good questions and engages the participants in dialogue and discussion around the topic at hand, hopefully coming to some type of conclusion or decision.

I sat in a meeting yesterday in which the convener of the meeting started talking and went on for about 15 minutes.  At first I became a bit irritated, and then realized that this was an important part of the meeting, in which this person needed to tell us about an exciting event in their life.  As I settled into listening, it became very clear to me that without the leader sharing their story, we could not have settled into the rest of the meeting, so I calmed myself down and enjoyed the story.  Eventually we got back to the agenda and had a very good meeting.  It was at that point that the title of today's blog came to me.

I believe there are times when it needs to be "my agenda."  As I considered this title, I started thinking about other times when the convener/facilitator/leader needs to own the agenda and just talk.  Here is my list as I think about it today:

• when an important event has occured in one's life...after a long vacation (like a month in Maine), a wonderful concert, a great student event, the birth of a child, a recent wedding or funeral, it might be importnat for you to share your reflections.  First, you need to share your personal excitement so you can focus your energies on the meeting; and second, the people around the table will know a little bit more about you
• when a value has been violated...it's often the elephant in the room about which no one wants to talk.  As the person in charge (and the person charged with creating and upholding the values) it might be time to talk about why the value is in place, how it has been violated, share stories about the power of that value, and begin to hold people accountable to living that value out.  10-15 minutes may not be too long to speak to this point
• when laying out a vision...whether it is at the beginning of the process where you might be thinking out loud or toward the end of the process where the vision has crystalized, this is a time for the convener to hold the floor for awhile and let people listen. Hhaving your ideas become words is a critical piece in making the vision a reality, and needing to say it over and over in different ways is important at this stage
• when confessing your faults...whether it is a slip in judgement or a mistake made or something of a grievious nature, this is a time when you speak and allow yourself to let people know that you know you have messed up.  This probably is not a 15 minute monologue, but it takes time for you to be vulnerable and show your willingness to say "I'm sorry."  Be sure to pause at the end and allow those around the table to pronounce forgiveness
• when critical issues arise...at those moments when everything seems to be falling apart, the leader needs to stand up and speak to the team, sometimes without questions being asked.  The more sensitive the issue, the more important it is that you have thought out what you will say and how you will say it.  Sometimes there will be no dialogue due to the personal nature of the issue at hand; at other times, there will be a place for questions and others' best thinking.  Careful explanation with as many details as can be shared are important for the group to hear

The facilitator of the meeting needs to know when these times are going to occur and share that with the group.  Simple phrases such as:
     - I need you all to give me a few minutes to speak to you directly
     - the next few minutes are my time to talk
     - an important event has come up that will take some time for me to explain to all of you
     - I normally don't like to talk for a long time, but the next few minutes are mine to do that
     - I need for all of you indulge me for the next ten minutes while I tell you about...
     - I need you all to listen closely for the next 10 minutes and be ready to ask questions and give me feedback when I am done

My learning for the week is that there are times I need to own the agenda - and that there are times others need to own the agenda.  I think there is a proper way to do that, and I also think that it should not be done too often.  What do you think?

operating from the same page

This past week I was conversing with a colleague from our Development Department, Carrie Leising, and we began to talk about the theories one uses to lead.  She asked if theories are valuable (or something to that effect) and that led to the "aha" moment for us that all of our actions are driven by some type of theory - whether it is an informed theory, another's theory, or an uninformed theory.  That the led to a dialogue on the importance of those who work with and for you needing to be operating from the same theory (i.e. working from the same page).  We often hear that leaders should surround themselves with people who think differently so that more creative ideas can arise and good questions can be asked.  That being said, I am a believer that while a leadership team can - and should - be composed of people who see the world through different lenses, all members should be operating from the same theory.
One of my roles as Dean is to ensure that the faculty is operating from the same theory of teaching and learning.  This is a group that is very diverse and comes from a variety of backgrounds.  We have all decided that is an incredible blessing for our students as they encounter different ways of teaching and different personalities.  Yet, it is critical that all of us approach the classroom from the same theory of learning and teaching so that our vision and operational plan can come to fruition and be lived out in a consistent manner.  While not wanting to make this a blog on teaching and learning, some of the basic tenents of this theory is that all students can learn if they choose to engage; learning is more important than teaching; students need to learn and practice in order to master content ands skills; and that true assessment will lead to better teaching and better learning.
So how can I - and others - ensure that the team is operating from the same theory?  Here are a few thoughts:

• be explicit - state the ideas and theory early and often.  Put it into words the team can understand
• be patient - sometimes the operating theory takes time to emerge.  Think about it outloud with others and find the words that best fit for your group
• be informed - read about the ideas and thoeries that excite you.  Find out what others have said and written so that you can speak to your theory as one that is informed
• be passionate - this is important stuff.  Don't let others intimidate you with their nay-saying of theories.  Remember that there is no practical operation without a  theory
• be repetitive - state the theory over and over and over.  Just when you think your team is understanding it, remember that you have only begun
• assess it - check to see if your theory is working.  Assess it against best practices, other institutions, and data you can gather and analyze
• be adaptable - sometimes theories don't work.  Be willing to look at other theories and consider what they have to offer - and be willing to get rid of a theory that is not working for you or the team
• be adamant - if others on the team refuse to engage with your theory, find out why.  If they still refuse to participate, it may be time to let them find another team

SO...what theory are you using to lead?  Can you state it?  Where does it come from?  Why is it important to you?  How does it help improve the bottom line of your organization?  And how is it beneficial to those you lead?