August 1, 2023

How do you communicate your values as a leader?

Does your organization know the mission of your enterprise? Do they know what's important to you and the standards that everyone must live up to??

College football brings us plenty of examples. The Tennessee Vols run through the Power T. The crowd goes wild in Columbus when the "i" is dotted in Ohio State. Clemson's players touch Howard's Rock as they run down the hill to the field.?

My favorite tradition is when the Notre Dame players tap a sign that says, "Play like a Champion Today" as they exit the locker room.?

Remember the movie,?Rudy? The team is gathered in the locker room just before kick-off. Rudy Ruettiger, a 5 foot 6 walk-on, is in the huddle of players. One of the guys shouts to him, "Are you ready, Champ?!" Rudy says, "I've been ready for this my entire life!" The coach screams, "Then take us out on the field!"?

They jog down the steps, tap the sign, and the unheralded walk-on leads them out on the field in front of a packed stadium. It's a touching moment as his family, his friends, and the custodian see a real-life can-you-believe-this moment. It gives me chill bumps every time I watch it.?

I wondered, what does it mean for a Notre Dame player to "play like a champion today?"?

Former coach Lou Holtz told his players that, when they tap that sign, to think about "the players who have gone before you that make this program what it is. Remember the sacrifices you have made to be here in this uniform today. And remember the sacrifices of your family and others who have supported you along the way."?

The tapping of the sign is a reminder of their culture, their beliefs, and their mission.?

Have you defined that for your organization? What does it mean to work at your company? What's the bigger mission?

It's worth thinking about.?

Here's a video?that we sent out to our email list last week, where I share my take on what it means to play like a champion in sales.?

The Huddle?is a weekly newsletter that is designed for leaders. Leaders must be learners. There is never a?moment?when leaders arrive. It's a never-ending growth process. I hope this can be a resource that you can use to stay sharp and share with your team.

With that, here are some things I ran across this week.?

How businesses are using AI -?It seems like the storm is calming. I read a recent report that indicated usage on ChatGPT was down 20% in the past few months. Some say it's just students (can you imagine having ChatGPT back in your college days?) who are off for the summer. Others say people have tried it, haven't been able to figure out how it can help them, and are on the sidelines.?

I'm probably in the middle. I've found it great for doing quick research that is more specific than a Google search.?

This article is interesting. It'll give you a benchmark for what you are doing compared to others. My quick, early take is that it's going to hurt digital marketing, especially the content creation space. Blogs, blurbs, posts, and newsletters like this one are now so easy to create with AI. You could use AI to do 6-months of content in the time it takes you to write three blog posts. I think the written word will flood the market. We'll be weary of the overload of information and skeptical of the "was this written by AI" thing. Then we'll just disengage.?

Being a weekend warrior is OK -?Some encouraging news from a?study that was recently published in?The Journal of the American Medical Association?shows that getting a lot of exercise in 1-2 day bursts (like the "weekend warrior") is as effective at preventing stroke, heart failure, and heart attack as people who broke exercise up throughout the week.?

Who among us hasn't had weeks where exercise just wasn't happening, or we beat ourselves up for missing two days in a row? It turns out, according to the study, that we can "make it up" on the weekend.?

We just can't say, "I'll start Monday."???

Words Matter -?Human beings are predictable. Very predictable.?

Now, you and I think that only applies to others. We aren't biased, we aren't subject to verbal tricks like the one I'll describe below, and we can't be persuaded if we don't want to be. No, that's not how you and I roll.?(cough, cough).?

If you believe that you are immune to influence, you are being naive. One of the classic books on the topic is?Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.?If you haven't read it, read it. I pick it up often, and it reminds me how gullible I am.?

This article?cites a passage from the book and then discusses another study that is similar. Bottom line? Ask for advice, not opinions.?

Building Better Bosses Cohort 2 (Early-Bird Pricing) -?Back in the spring, we started a new offering for managers and soon-to-be managers called?Building Better Bosses.?

In my work with organizations, I've observed two truths about management. A good manager has an outsized impact on the results of the team. I don't know how to quantify it, but it's big. There is nothing you can do for your organization's growth that is better than having good managers.

On the other hand (and I say this with humility of having once been one of these managers), most managers have no idea what they are doing. They don't understand their role. They don't wear all the hats that they need to wear. They mistake "telling" for coaching. They?give their people fish?without?teaching them to fish.?

We are starting our second cohort of?Building Better Bosses?in October. If you want to take advantage of early-bird pricing, you can enroll yourself or someone on your team for $1,925 before September 8. After that, the investment goes up by several hundred dollars.?

Here's what a participant from our last cohort said:

"Hiring, onboarding, training, coaching, and leadership - a company’s operational lifeblood and yet often the most underdeveloped skills even in top-performing employees. ‘Building Better Bosses’ drove excellent conversations around these topics and even felt therapeutic in that it helped make these daunting concepts more approachable and tangible.

We utilized current, real-world situations in our discussions and walked away from the class with numerous tools that we could immediately apply in the day-to-day management of our employees.

I would recommend ‘BBB’ for any budding or veteran leaders in your organization - there is something for every level of manager!"

The quote above is from a newer manager who has a very high ceiling. I suspect she'll be a great leader.

But in getting to know her and the things that caused her to lose her confidence a bit, it was very much centered around having undeveloped points of view as a manager. Not having the tools,?processes, or foundational knowledge it takes to lead a team.

I'm pretty sure the company will 10X their investment in a short time. Heck, one good hire (or preventing a bad one) pays it back in spades.

If interested, you can find out more?here.?

A quote to leave you with?

Have a great week!