Are you intent on making a living or on making a difference?

When I left the corporate world in the early 90s and began my current work my decision was based on a deep desire to make a difference.

In the early years it was hard to also make a living.

In the more than a quarter of a century since there have been times when making a living has been hard and my resolve tested, yet overall my intention to make a difference has also meant making a good living.

Who will you become?

What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

The 5 foundations, 5 faces and 12 fundamentals of fully human leadership

I've finalised the full content for you to choose from for my new Fully Human Leadership (Who Before Do) Program.

Here's the 5 foundations:

Here's the 5 faces:

And below are the 12 fundamentals:

The Fully Human Leadership (Who Before Do) Program is my legacy work. Should you be wanting to achieve better business results at less business and personal cost then this program is for you.

Please visit the link above to learn more and then contact me on +61 418 807 898 to explore your options. You may wish to also complete the simple yet profound diagnostic tool that will show you where you're at and where you can move to in each of the areas. You can download here.

Be remarkable.

Ian

What would a sustainable, universally beneficial economy look like?

The question proposed as the headline above is well answered in the TED talk below.
I also love Kate's doughnut of social and planetary boundaries (see picture at the end of this post).

I admit that all the talk about growth by politicians and some business leaders has taken me to boredom.

I stopped trying to grow my business a long ago. My continuous quest is to provide value to my clients that they can't get anywhere else, and as a consequence continue to live the lifestyle I have chosen.

Who will you become?

What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

PS Great points in the talk about the useless measurement of GDP and our addictions to growth and consumption of stuff. And my favourite word perhaps "regeneration."

PSS I don't believe it's all about the economy. I believe we need to return to focusing on the economy being part of society and never return to where we are now where society is part of the economy.

Screen shot from Kate's talk that captures what the future can look like:

What social problems are business opportunities you've overlooked?

I read this book recently.

Here's my Amazon review.

A key point is the number of social problems that are not being seen as business opportunities.

In the spirit of purpose-driven or conscious business, which I think one day will be the majority of businesses, take a look at the UN's sustainable development goals and see where they lead you.

You're probably missing out on a vast number of ways that you could improve your business by addressing a social problem/challenge.

And you'd be leaving a greater legacy too!

Leaving the world better that we found it is one of the key drivers for purpose-driven leaders.

Who will you become?

What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Are you profit, platform/product/service or people driven?

I love this 1 hour presentation by Gary Vaynerchuk.



Gary wonderfully captures for me the key to success in business - how we see and treat human beings.

I call it fully human leadership (self, performance and change).

Gary beautifully puts marketing into context.

And I love his last line (accepting that I am taking it out of context!)

Take all the money your spending on dumb shit and put it into humans.
Gary Vaynerchuk

Be remarkable.
Ian

The ever-increasing value of third places

90% of my meetings with clients are in third places chosen by my them, usually cafes, restaurants, libraries or community hubs. We often connect with other people of like heart and mind while we're meeting which is good for both of us.

This week build more of a home wherever you belong.

Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.
Robert Frost

Be remarkable.
Ian

Designing work to be meaningful to you and highly valuable to others

Below is my process

Below are the performance leadership essentials

If you'd like some help with any of the above please contact me on +61 418 807 898.

Be remarkable.

Ian

Delight awaits us when we ditch dogma

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate for the story present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise with the occasion. As our situation is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves if we are to save our country.
--- Abraham Lincoln, December 1862

Dogma is living with the results of other people’s thinking.
--- Steve Jobs

Remarkable people have ditched dogma and instead lead by example.

When I Google the meaning of dogma I get
“a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.”

Dogma is trouble wherever you find it. It's where what someone in authority says is more important than the original sound principle on which the dogma is based.

We see this in religion of course where a good principle articulated by Buddha as below for example is overruled by dogma (and therefore behaviour) making a lie of the good principle.

“All spirituality is about relieving suffering.” Buddha

Dogma being what we follow and how we behave, rather than living by the good principle on which the dogma is based in our own best way, is true in most places including your workplace.

Steve Jobs got it right I reckon:

The great spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi articulated what I think is a principle highly relevant in all of life. He said

"Be the change that you wish to see in the world."

One of the key questions I ask my clients is "How can you better be the change you want to see in your workplace?" Honest answers lead to ditching dogma and leading by example.

Delight awaits us when we ditch dogma.

Who will you become?

What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

“It’s not what happens to you. It’s what you do about it”

I am a big fan of W Mitchell the originator of today's headline and pictured.

If you ever have the chance to hear Mitchell speak, don’t miss it! Of all the 1000's of speeches I have heard I remember his the most.

Whatever happens to you this week, don’t react. Instead respond in a way that will likely lead you to the future you want.

“It’s not what happens to you. It’s what you do about it”

The moment something happens it’s the past. We can’t change the past. We can respond in the present in ways that determine a better future.

Who will you become?

What will you do next?

Be remarkable.
Ian

Leading people is wise. Trying to manage people is not

According to Wikepdia The verb manage comes from the Italian maneggiare (to handle — especially tools), which in turn derives from the Latin manus (hand). 

The French word mesnagement (later ménagement) influenced the development in meaning of the English word management in the 17th and 18th centuries.

How did we go from the above to trying to manage people? Good question. I don’t know! My best guess is industrial revolution thinking and believing people can be treated like machines! 

In the 21st century we can lead people but not manage them. Some very wise people were onto this last century!

You manage things; you lead people.
Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

One does not manage people. The task is to lead people.
Peter Drucker

I meet many so called leaders who still feel the need to plan, organize, direct and control (manage) their people. 

A better path to success to travel is to inspire and influence (leadership), have agreed boundaries, co- create great systems and processes (management), and let people loose.

My own definitions of leadership and management are contained in the model below that I use as the basis for all of my work.

A key is understanding that both leadership and management struggle unless they are underpinned by culture.

Get your leadership, management and culture right for you. It changes everything for the better in your organisation. Leadership is fundamentally about people. Management is fundamentally about systems and processes that are good for people in bringing their best to their work. Culture has everything to do with being human.

Be remarkable.
Ian

What are you still to unlearn that is untrue?

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue. 
Antisthenes, 445 - 365 BC, Greek philosopher and a pupil of Socrates

What are you still to unlearn that is untrue?

Be remarkable.
Ian

19 really useful techniques for making difficult conversations history

As a general rule there is a reluctance to have conversations about performance particularly when there is conflict, disagreement and/or difficulty.

“Managers Lack Courage to Have Difficult Performance Discussions” so said 63% of 750 respondents World atWork/Sibson 2010 Study on The State of Performance Management.

The same study says “58% of organizations rated their performance management systems as “C Grade or below.”

“Is there any organizational practice more broken than performance management?  asks Sylvia Vorhauser-Smith in an article for Forbes 16/12/12.  She goes on to say:

“everyone hates it – employees and managers alike 
nobody does it well – it’s a skill that seemingly fails to be acquired despite exhaustive training efforts, and 
it fails the test of construct validity – it doesn’t do what it was designed to do, i.e. increase performance 

Traditional performance management programs have become organization wallpaper. They exist in the background with little or no expectations for impact. Yet despite its poor popularity, the concept of performance (at an individual and organizational level) is critical to business success. It can’t just be ignored.”

Of course in recent times many organisations have moved away from performance management. Here's just one article of many on the subject.

I have been writing about this shift for more than two decades. Here's my latest article on the move to performance leadership.

The 19 really useful techniques for making difficult conversations history ebook provides immediately doable ways to leave performance management where it belongs, in the past, and inspire a step-up to performance leadership where candour, conviviality and compassion live. 

In the “Human Age” we are embracing, not having conversations about performance, especially when they are difficult is a fast track to seeing your business disappear.  Embrace the 19 techniques and you will begin the journey to building a workplace where people really matter.  Performance improvement will follow.

Please download this ebook with my compliments.

And please share this ebook with those people you feel would value it. Thank You.

Be remarkable.
Ian

What's your personal best theme song?

On the fourth Wednesday of every month I conduct a master-class in Ballarat. 

Last month we explored the compete with yourself/collaborate concept as detailed in this complimentary course.

I introduced my own theme songs for competing with yourself and collaboration. We had a fascinating and uplifting conversation including some members of the group sharing their songs via their smart phones.

Some of the songs chosen by group members

Compete with yourself songs

Simply the best

Whatever it takes

Survivor

I will be king, you will be queen

Living on a prayer

Collaborate Songs

We could be heroes

We are the champions

We’re a happy team at Hawthorn

A million dreams

What are we waiting for

What would your theme songs be?

Be remarkable.
Ian