What’s bigger than a BHAG and small enough to hide in your pocket? It’s those hidden dreams for what your organization can become and what you can do in the world. Not just your “stretch goals” or even your BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). You’ve pushed yourself to write those down and used them to help your team achieve more. That’s fabulous. And, I’m betting there’s more. Your bold and beautiful aspirations.
Why change can be hard (and what to do about that)
Your 2018 plan – a contrarian view
Leadership for Imperatives for Complexity #5
As leaders, we often identify our role in terms of the results we are responsible for. And yet there is a second aspect of your role in complex situations that is just as important to focus on – creating the conditions that foster the emergence of your desired outcomes. Yeah, that’s a lot harder to get your arms around than the results. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter.
Gratitude
Leadership Imperatives for Complexity #4
Complexity is messy. When we encounter a messy problem, most of us tend to pay attention first to “the problem” as something separate from us. For example, if the quality of public education in my town has declined, I look at things like school financing, teacher preparation, curriculum, etc. I implicitly define the problem as “out there.” While those things surely deserve attention, I’ll be more effective in making changes if I also consider myself as part of the system and thus something that might be changed to shift the system.
Leadership Imperatives for Complexity #3
Don’t make false choices (part 2)
In my last post , I talked about shifting from OR to AND with respect to two of the key paradoxes that are key to leading in complexity:
- Stability AND fluidity
2017 Scholarship Winner Announced
I'm very excited to announce the recipient of our 2017 coaching scholarship, Mimi Marziani, Executive Director at the Texas Civil Rights Project. I'm very much looking forward to working with her!
In Q1, 2018, I'll open applications for the 2018 scholarship. If you want to be among the first to know, sign up for blog updates or my monthly newsletter. You can learn more about this year's scholarship program here.
Leadership Imperatives for Complexity #3
Complex situations are full of places where we have to make tough choices. Expand the current market or enter a new one? Let an aging product die or re-energize it with new features. Some of these may truly need to be either/or choices. And there are lots of places where we need to move from OR to AND.
Leadership Imperatives for Complexity #2
The story of the 5 blind men exploring an elephant reminds us that what we see depends entirely on our perspective. This suggest two things we want to consider when working with complexity.