Inspiring Courageous Curiosity in an Increasingly Reactive World

Dear friends,

Over the course of working for nearly twenty years of with the leaders of small and mid-sized businesses, I have seen that the single most important thing a leader must do is create an environment where people perform their work conscientiously.

Beyond the levels of talent, skills, and experience, people who feel that it is necessary to accomplish things to the best of their ability are the people who continuously learn, improve, adapt, and support a culture that cultivates high performance and success.

You're lucky when you can find such people. But you cannot depend on luck alone for the things that are most crucial to your survival. You create luck through preparation.

Companies staffed with competent, motivated, and conscientious people are the result of having competent leaders who inspire people to be conscientious by making it necessary and possible. They commit to and invest in the growth of their people. They also dedicate the time and effort needed to make themselves competent by investing in continuous learning and growth.

I don't think there has ever been a time that this has been more important than now.

Here's wishing you a great week ahead.

Phil

Inspiring Courageous Curiosity in an Increasingly Reactive World

by Philip R. Liebman

Discovering new ways of approaching old problems excites me. I quickly become bored doing the same things in the same ways. Behavioral assessments confirm that it is my nature to change things up and disrupt things, which can frustrate people around me. Others find it compelling to maintain routines and apply consistency to make the world dependable for themselves and others. My wife is this way, and so are many business leaders I have worked with. Neither disposition is right or wrong or necessarily good or bad. Strengths and weaknesses tend to be situational.

Being flexible when assessing options expands your perspective, while resolving to be inflexible when executing your plans may better ensure their completion. Strength is often a balance between flexibility and rigidity. Structures that are too flexible cannot bear much weight, but rigid structures break without the capacity to bend, even slightly. Flexibility provides resilience.?

People are no different. Many different strengths measure a person, and none of us get by with just having one. Our greatest strengths are those that balance competing qualities, and we acquire the wisdom to discern when and how to use them through experience. Strengths of character are the muscles we call wisdom. We develop them through learning and by exercising the courage to be wrong, fail, be disliked, or allow ourselves to be uncomfortable.

When I think about the most effective and successful people I know, they are all learners. Their curiosity informs their choices more than certainty, yet they confidently make decisions. They can make difficult things look easy. They embrace the possibility of failing or being wrong but are not afraid to act. Curiosity informs courage when the opportunity to learn overrides the need to be right. Creative and resourceful leaders are more competent and capable of inspiring change and progress.?

There is a growing rejection of this ideal and a return to the reactive command-and-control leadership approach, which has proven ineffective in addressing today’s problems.

Change and uncertainty are constants. Those who resist change, insist on certainty, and insist on being right are likely weak and fearful. They feign strength by making themselves look important and larger than life. Without the means to effectively influence people, they instead turn to intimidation, falsehoods, or becoming people-pleasers. Reactive tendencies become ineffective when people sense manipulation.?

Business leaders all display reactive tendencies. Clients often come to me stuck, frustrated, and desiring needed change. It is fear holding them back. They discover the courage to lead change when they learn that fear doesn’t stop us from acting; it’s how we react to fear.?

Fear is a powerful motivator. It helps unlock hidden strengths, informs the curiosity that uncovers better options and yields better decisions. Fear can spur the determination to make possible the things we know are necessary.?

When we shift from being reactive towards the creative resourcefulness that defines genuinely effective leadership, we can inspire courageous curiosity in a largely reactive world.?

###

You can access over 150 other pieces on business leadership and related topics at the ALPS BLOG atALPSLeadership.com.

Please share your thoughts or engage in thoughtful dialogue on any of the topics covered or anything about your experience or questions you may have. I welcome the opportunity to speak with you via phone or Zoom. Please feel free to also write to me, and I will always respond.

? To schedule a time to talk by phone or Zoom - click HERE.

It would be a privilege to share how you can lead your people (and your life) more effectively and how our cohort and coaching programs help CEOs, solopreneurs, coaches, and consultants accomplish the things that matter most.

• To ask about expert leadership coaching, please CLICK HERE.