Leaders Are Readers -- August 2024

APPLIED AI & ANALYTICS

Over many (many!) months, we've read and reviewed articles about HR GenAI. Here again, no shortage of "go get some of that!" from CEOs/COOs/Boards and C-Suite leaders. Given there is a growing number of available offerings, it can be challenging for HR leaders to sift through everything. Couple useful notes in this piece, but I'd start with the same question we should be asking about any policy, program, process, or platform?we might seek to implement ... "what challenge, problem, or opportunity are we seeking to solve?" Similarly, "what is or are of focus area(s)?" For example, in prior months, we've covered information about interviewing platforms and how GenAI is being used there. If our focus is to both decrease the amount of time it takes to interview candidates and improve our data to help make better informed hiring decisions, there are tools available?to help do this. Rather than chase anything or everything, simply starting with where?organizations want to explore makes sense. There are, of course, companies, like my employer (Gartner) that have tools available to help sift through the noise to making better-informed decisions, including betting beyond the hype and being able to evaluate not only what is truly available, also understanding what best fits the organization's needs (and/or wants). Like with most decisions, do the research, take time to evaluate, and ensure we're not just chasing shiny objects to "be first" or "fastest".?Sifting through 'the noise': AI tools for HR are evolving fast – here’s how to catch up - WorkLife

Interesting question in this title! Master of the obvious, no, AI cannot currently screen for purpose. At least not yet. That is purely subjective to my way of thinking, but as this piece points out, it is VERY important. Many, if not most, world-class organizations both?prefer and (try to) pursue people whose values fit within their framework. There are any number of companies that, in the absence of other opportunities or options to pay my bills, I would never work for. Why? Because what they?value most, I don't. This isn't meant to be a political polemical statement, rather to say, why would you or I choose to work somewhere if our values aren't unaligned??It is very important for those to be congruent, and recruitment processes should include questions that seek to get after that. During my own interviewing for my current position, this was important to me. Not just that I think our product is world-class, also that the people I work with, and the organization are similarly excellent?in and at things that matter to me.?Can AI Screen for Purpose? (kornferry.com)

Suppose this is one more article with variation on the same theme; what not to do, or what to do when considering adopting and advancing GenAI into an organization. This piece points out seven key things learned from "the early days" that, seem to me, remain important. They are: 1) Not all use cases are equal; 2) It's not just about models but the entire tech stack; 3) Manage costs before they manage you; 4) Tame the proliferation of tools and technology (from our first piece above!); 5) Assemble teams; 6) Get the right data, not perfect data; and 7) Reuse it or lose it. Bottom line for me, like any other major movement in our organizations, we need to do the research, analysis, and planning before purchasing.?7 lessons from the early days of generative AI | MIT Sloan

Here, the title belies much of the meat. Most of my clients are struggling to determine what GenAI test use case they should pursue, how to think about incorporating it into the organization, and wondering how to communicate what impacts there will be to the workforce. Not necessarily, does adopting GenAI mean lay-offs? This article does mention GenAI, but focuses more on why managers, especially at the middle levels, will continue being important. Research my parent company has done in this area reveals many of the same things this piece shares. Far too many organizations not only haven't done well at deliberately developing them, but they now also have more responsibilities than ever before.?Managing in the era of gen AI | McKinsey

Hat tip to one of my Gartner teammates, Michael Jones, for sharing this article. Uncertain or unsure about how to use AI? This piece does a great job explaining how to make one such piece of AI work best for you. From the piece, ...you don’t have to be a computer scientist to get the most out of your results. Three basic steps for giving Copilot instructions, called prompts, make it as easy as ASKing for what you need: 1)?Action -- Explain what you want Copilot to do. 2) Style -- Describe the format you want the response presented in.?Key details -- Set the stage with more context about your situation.?How to use AI in 3 simple steps: Just ASK? (microsoft.com)

The next two pieces share some notes about how household name companies are making use of AI and GenAI. Do desire more data and detail within these pieces, but my takeaway is where my head has been for some time about this subject matter. Just like computers and smartphones being best used as tools to assist and aid in our work, incorporating these "new" technologies will free the human to focus more on those things that are uniquely human.?How Mastercard is leveraging AI in talent acquisition - WorkLife; A year in: Nestlé employees save 45 minutes per week using internal generative AI - WorkLife

Another good question. The piece linked here defines Shadow AI as "the unregulated, unauthorized use of AI within an organization without the knowledge or approval of IT or security teams. It’s the unsanctioned or ad-hoc use of AI within an organization that IT doesn’t know about." Prior to leaving the US Air Force, I learned of one uniformed member who created a ChatGPT-like program to help him write performance report inputs. That wasn't cleared for use on his government-issued IT. Makes sense because it hadn't been vetted to ensure there wasn't malware or malicious code that could infiltrate Federal networks. Proper computer hygiene protocols were violated. What I found interesting was there was less concern about if the program had been uploaded without authorization, it was far and away being more concerned about the outputs. Would the narratives being generated actually be incorporated into performance reports? Here's why that doesn't bother me at all, provided that isn't the 100-percent final product -- it saves time! If I have a dozen direct reports, something that evolves to mirror my voice will help me focus more on ensuring the content is correctly conveying the performance over being concerned about whether or not my patterns fit the "here's what gets someone promoted" language. Also, in our professional military education training reports, much of that is pro forma. What appears on my report is the same thing that appears on nearly everyone else's with some basic things tailored to me. Yes, we need to ensure Shadow AI isn't being installed on our networks without proper authorization, but we need to fear our teammates who are coming up with useful tools for later adoption.?WTF is Shadow AI? - WorkLife

HARVARD YARD

We often, well, probably more like, every month, "growth-mindset" comes up somewhere. I see the same here. Being open to approaching things with a wider viewport or larger lens. We aren't all innovative. I know I'm not, but when I see something that works, I have no problem adopting it and adapting it into my routines. We all can, however, become more curious, focus on continuous learning, and continue working more and more collaboratively. Several cautions here: 1) Innovation isn't planned. My experience is, the most innovative ideas flow from asynchronous work, either individually or within a collaborative environment. 2) There are few true innovators in any organization. There likely are some, but this isn't just about curiosity and intelligent people. They can, of course, bring about improvements, but that is not the same as being innovative. Innovation and improvements are parallel things. Generally, if something is innovative in a good way, it improves on the current version. Regardless, like the basic couple thoughts here about how adopting an innovators mindset can lead to better performance.?

Adopt an Innovator’s Mindset by Soren Kaplan

To set yourself apart in a business landscape that prizes creative thinking and breakthrough results, you need to adopt an innovator’s mindset. Here’s how to consistently bring fresh ideas to the table and demonstrate a proactive approach to problem-solving.??

Approach problem-solving with curiosity. Question the status quo and explore new possibilities. Before starting any project, ask: What is the root cause of this problem? How can I add value quickly and efficiently? And after each project, reflect on what didn’t work to build resilience and drive improvement.?

Foster continuous learning by staying updated on industry trends and regularly developing new skills. Dedicate time each week to learning through news, courses, or networking. Spending time on creative hobbies can also enhance problem-solving skills.??

Innovation thrives in collaborative environments. Facilitate monthly brainstorms to share ideas and feedback on your team. This generates novel and diverse solutions and fosters teamwork. You might even keep a weekly innovation journal to jot down ideas and reflections, then share them with your team to inspire collective creativity.

----------

I hope not! Yet, hope is not a strategy. Doesn't mean we should lose hope, or confidence, or that our prior successes don't have meaning; rather, to remain on the top of our professional game, we must continue practicing. We've discussed Tom Brady in prior missives. As a Buffalo native, and long-suffering (and suffering, and suffering), Buffalo Bills fan, not a fan of Tom Brady who has more wins against my Bills than any other team in his long, very storied and super successful football career (33 wins to just 3 losses). It pains me to write that, though I do admit his?professional prowess. May well be the GOAT. One of the reasons he was so successful, for so long, was his off-season preparation. Aside from being, apparently, fanatical about maintaining?his physical condition, he was one of the best students of the game. He studied his opponents, mastered his team's playbooks, knew his teammates strengths and weaknesses, and got to know every one of his teammates personally. In short and sum, he prepared, practiced, and pursued his craft. He played for 23 seasons at a very high level as a result of not simply looking back at his first few successful years, including Super Bowl wins, resting and relying on those past successes for future success. He understood that the game changes. He needed to adapt with and to those changes to continue being successful. It is the same for us, and likely any profession. Continue cultivating, curating, and crafting new capabilities over time. As this piece points out, also continue building your bench. Just as Tom Brady had teammates coming and going most every season, he adapted to new positional players, learning how to continue working with them. I am far and away better at my craft than I was even ten years ago, let alone 23 or more "seasons" ago. I continue leaning?in and learning, with no plans to stop doing so.

Are You Afraid of Becoming Obsolete?? by Ron Carucci

Professionals across the career spectrum have moments where they fear they’re becoming obsolete. Different from the occasional bout of self-doubt, this fear can make you fundamentally question your professional significance. Here’s how to reclaim your agency and stay relevant—no matter where you are in your career journey.?

Assess your unique talents. Take an honest inventory of your skills. Seek feedback from colleagues and mentors to identify what makes you valuable. Recognize and build on these strengths—and stay open to developing new ones.?

Focus on abilities that technology can’t replace. Human traits like empathy, curiosity, resilience, and leadership will always be in demand and will equip you to adapt to future roles.

?Honor the past, focus on the future. Celebrate your past achievements, but don’t dwell on them. Nostalgia won’t secure future opportunities; your ability to adapt and innovate will. So pack away your “trophies” and look forward.?

Bridge generational gaps. If you’re senior in your career, share your knowledge and mentor others. Collaboration across generations enriches both your legacy and future potential, keeping everyone’s skills sharp.?

Seek new challenges. Think of uncertainty as a chance to grow. Step out of your comfort zone and volunteer to take on new projects. This demonstrates your willingness to learn and adapt and reinforces your relevance.

----------

Ah yes, it often is challenging being back to work following a great vacation. Alas, vacations don't last forever, unless you're completely retired. Getting back to the routine can be difficult that first day or two back. For many, many years now, whenever we've been on vacation, not a staycation like during the Pandemic, rather when we've actually packed the car, or taken that flight, or series of planes, trains, and automobiles somewhere, we like to return home with some reset time baked in. Typically, I like to get home with a day, or two, or three to unpack, unwind, and get back into the routine. Rarely will we run home the day prior to going back to the office. Here's one area where I have slight disagreement with the author. Ease back in by easing back in at home. Sure, nothing wrong with setting that first morning back as a not overly packed schedule, if your position or post affords that opportunity. For several years now, I typically have Monday mornings blocked off to read and reset myself for the week ahead. That became a very useful practice to give myself strategic reading, writing, and preparation time rather than trying to be "lazy" the first workday of my week. If you borrow that same practice, then easing back in, as it were, is just part of your routine anyway. Restating my slight disagreement; ease back from your vacation into your regular life rather than impacting your employer. Many of my last several positions?were not conducive to "easing back in". The expectations and necessity of my work wouldn't have allowed me a couple days to "get fully back to work". Knowing that to be true, we planned and programmed that time into the number of vacation days. Take time off to be sure. That's an incredibly important part of maintaining life harmony and recharging our resilience. Think through the vacation and return to be able to your best self when you go back to work.

Returning to Work After a Great Vacation by Rebecca Knight

Your summer vacation was bliss: mornings at the beach, impromptu ice cream stops, and afternoons lost in a good book. But now you’re back at your desk, facing a mountain of messages and emails, and your vacation joy is fading. How can you regain momentum at work??

Ease back in. Expect the first days back to be tough. Set reasonable expectations and plan your reentry in advance. Leave extra time for your commute to reduce stress, and be strategic about scheduling meetings. Start with small, manageable tasks to build momentum gradually.?

Reconnect with what you love about work. Think about why you chose your job in the first place. Identify the parts you enjoy and prioritize them. This could be anything from brainstorming sessions to client interactions. Focusing on what brings you joy can rekindle your motivation.?

Shift your perspective. Work and leisure aren’t mutually exclusive. Recognize that your job provides the means for your vacations and downtime. Embrace the idea that being productive can complement your personal life and contribute to your overall well-being.?

Reassess if necessary. If you’re still struggling after a few weeks, consider whether the job is still right for you. Vacations offer time for reflection. If you find yourself unhappy, explore other options—without making impulsive decisions.

----------

I wish I had internalized many of these skills earlier in my career. Over time, necessity does provide great lessons. Adding one more thing here, that might be intimated in the first note to "Identify key actions" and/or "Explore choices"; mentor and mold others to become better strategic thinkers, leaders, and doers. In so doing, which I think and have often articulated, is a strategic leader's number one priority and purpose, curating and cultivating our replacements. Even if they won't or don't replace us for years yet to come, the purposeful practice affords leaders delegating more to others (not work avoidance), allowing those senior leaders to focus on the things they must do and decide. I submit that when we develop others, each of the six ideas posited in this piece become easier to not only do, but our own strategic skill set?sharpens.?

Take a More Strategic Approach to Work ... Every Day by David Lancefield

Being strategic is an essential leadership skill. But strategies are notoriously hard to design and deliver. The key to overcoming the organizational and personal obstacles that get in the way? Make small decisions about where to focus and what to do throughout your day. They may feel inconsequential, but their impacts accumulate. Try these six strategies for incorporating strategic thinking into your daily work.?

Identify key actions. Allocate time each day to activities that significantly contribute to your overall strategy. Prioritize high-impact tasks and delegate or eliminate less-critical ones.?

Address major problems. Tackle the biggest challenges first. Reframe problems as opportunities to grow—and consider how solving them aligns with your strategic goals.?

Explore choices. In every interaction with your colleagues, think about the different ways you could make progress toward your goals. Consider your role, what sets you apart from others, and your desired impact, and look out for learning opportunities in the moment.?

Master necessary skills. Continue to invest in your growth and development. Learn from past efforts, seek advice from trusted coworkers, and look to high-performing peers for inspiration.?

Create alignment. Strive to align your strategic decisions with the needs of all stakeholders—yourself included! Reframe situations to find innovative ways to benefit both you and your organization’s goals.?

Assemble resources. Ensure you have the physical, mental, and relational resources you need to do your best work. Prioritize health, supportive relationships, and a productive work environment.

----------

More than a year ago, as I was working diligently and deliberately towards my Air Force retirement, I had the opportunity to participate in a four-hour skull session with a top LinkedIn voice. If memory serves, at the time, he had somewhere north of 300,000 followers. LI limits the total number of direct connections you can have (30,000). He implored my fellow soon to be military retirees to really work on their LinkedIn profiles and presence. I began more deliberately, including adding at least two posts per week and enlarging my network. While my connections are just north of 3,000 and I don't think I will ever reach the upper limit, the post reminds me of how many invitations I have accepted from people I don't know, and also how many I have declined, and the "why" for both. First, when people reach out to connect, if they include a message, I'm more inclined to accept the connection. If they reach out with a sales pitch, it becomes a mixed bag. Where and when I think the person's profile is interesting, I generally accept. I also have connected via MS Teams, Zoom, Google Meets, and Webex with dozens of these new connections. Several of those connections, I've also met in-person over coffee, lunch, or just a social visit. That has been quite fruitful both in terms of meeting interesting people and enlarging my continuous learning from others. In turn, I've invested time in reading resumes, making a few referrals, and trying to be value-added to others. The point of this piece is to be judicious about those connections. While this focuses on people we already know (coworkers or classmates), the same holds true. We only have so much time and bandwidth available each and every day. Make the connections something worthwhile and don't feel the need to respond to every message. Quick example, I receive LinkedIn InMail several days each week. Some weeks, every day. Nearly every single one is a sales pitch of some sort. I ignore most of them. A few I do politely respond that I'm not interested in whatever they are peddling. I have responded to a very select few that hold my interest. As the authors point out, it is okay to simply say no thank you.?

Resist the Impulse to Fulfill Every Networking Request by Deborah Grayson Riegel and Loren Margolis

When a former coworker or classmate reaches out on LinkedIn with a request for a referral, it’s normal to feel hesitant, especially if you’re not close with them or don’t yet feel established in your own role. How can you gracefully turn down their networking request??

Start by listening to your instincts—and trusting them. It’s okay to feel unsure about endorsing someone for a job or investing your energy into their career. Your time and social capital are limited; that’s nothing to feel guilty about.?

If you don’t have the time to meet with someone now but might be interested in the future, let them know respectfully but honestly that you’re not in a position to commit the time to a meeting or to make a referral. You could still send them some helpful resources, such as related articles or information about a professional organization they might want to join.?

Finally, resist the impulse to fulfill every request that hits your inbox. Focus instead on building genuine, mutually beneficial relationships, and don’t be shy about setting boundaries to maintain your professional integrity if you spot a red flag. Prioritize your growth, keeping in mind that it’s okay to simply say “no thank you” when necessary.

----------

Some great practical advice here. Early in my professional career, I felt if I asked for help, I was doing something wrong. Wasn't preparing well enough to do whatever were my roles and responsibilities. Not that I recall anyone instilling that in me, rather call it professional naivete and, perhaps more likely, personal pride. Eventually, I got over it. My whole professional life, I worked and still work on teams. Most people do. What makes teams the strongest (and stable!) is in knowing we all have particular skills, strengths, and superpowers. Once we tap into one another, we all become better for that engagement. I ask for help often, despite being someone who is sometimes viewed as "having all the answers". Yeah, not so much.

Ask for Help from a Position of Strength, Not Weakness by Melody Wilding

Imagine you’re handed a new project at work that requires skills or information you don’t have. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and while asking for help can be intimidating, you can do so in a way that actually demonstrates your strength, competence, and professionalism. Here’s how.?

Start strong. Avoid phrases like “I hate to bother you.” Instead, begin with a clear purpose. For example, “I’d like to get your thoughts on a challenge I’m facing,” or “I’m working on this project and would like to bounce some ideas off you.”?

Acknowledge their expertise. Rather than putting yourself down, highlight the other person’s knowledge or abilities. Say, “Your background in this area is exactly what this project needs,” or “I know you’ve handled requests like this before, so you came to mind as the perfect person to reach out to.”?

Be precise and concise. Make your request clear and specific. Instead of “I’m having trouble with this presentation. Can you help?” try “I’ve prepped content for the board presentation, but I’m not sure about the order of slides five through 10. Could you take a look?”?

Explain what work you’ve already done. For example, “I’ve mapped out three potential scenarios for the project timeline. Can we chat about which is most realistic?” This will demonstrate that you’ve done your due diligence and help narrow the focus of your request.

MARVELOUS MCKINSEY

The following links to a thread of different articles, not all of which I have read. Here, our focus is on the first article and getting our minds around the idea that Learning and Development focuses within organizations should include developing teammates to have a future-orientation. My takeaway is not about strategically planning for future posture, rather, deliberately developing people that have a futurist mindset. Not about "what the future could be" as some sort of science fiction goose chase, rather developing specific skills that help our teammates envision what may well be coming in the near-, mid-, and longer-term, and having honed skills to help move organizations towards those openings and opportunities. How? By elevating critical thinking and analytic skills to another level. Like all skills, some have these capabilities naturally, but if organizations spend time, and resources, to curate these capabilities, they may well be better suited for success than competitors when disruptions occur, directions shift, and inevitably, when markets move in new directions. A futurist lens to people development (mckinsey.com)

The following piece is fairly long, about 10 pages, but worth the reading time. From the piece, "We are moving from an era of individual leaders to an era of networked leadership teams that steer the organization. The old hierarchical model of leadership is increasingly seen as an obstacle to meeting the complex demands facing today’s organizations. Companies seeking to thrive now still need leaders who are accountable for their individual roles—but leadership itself resides in the teams of leaders acting in service to the organization. High-performing leadership teams will always outperform the capabilities of their individuals. This new model has a clear purpose and focus: to benefit all stakeholders by enabling people to work and learn together to build and operate a continually evolving system for creating value." New? Set aside this was published more than one year ago, that's not my question. Is this model really new? Admittedly, there are some new notes and nuggets contained within, at least for me. On the main, what is being advanced and addressed here is not at all new to me. This is the leadership model, more or less, and perhaps defined differently, that I lived within and led myself for most of my Air Force career. It may well be new to many organizations. I contend, in part, because so much of the model here is what I remember from my 30 years wearing the uniform, is why the United States Air Force was and is, at least for now, the most formidable Air Force on the planet. Of course, this model isn't permeated everywhere across the Air Force. There are innumerable examples of lousy leadership, terrible team dynamics, and elevated egos amongst some senior leaders that leads to toxicity. Mostly meaning to impart, there is a lot of goodness in this article for any and all organizations, and their leadership teams, to engage and execute. New leadership in an era of thriving organizations | McKinsey

MISCELLANEOUS MUSING

Hat tip to one of my Gartner teammates, Shawn Moren, for sharing this piece. In Marvelous McKinsey above, we explored a short article about developing futurist lenses amongst our teams. Every role in organizations continuously evolves. The pace is most certainly different amongst different roles, but I dare say very few positions in any organization operate exactly the way it did even just a few years ago. Technology changes march on endlessly, markets shift, consumers tastes change, managers and leaders at all levels continue accumulating new or expanded responsibility sets, and very, very few organizations actually undertake strategic workforce planning, succession planning, and deliberately developing their leadership bench. Here, we explore how CEOs' roles and responsibilities continue on that same vector and how we should be thinking about building the right knowledge, skills, attributes, and behaviors into future CEOs. I suggest this redounds to all C-suite leaders, and cascades across leaders at all levels, just in different complexity levels. Leadership for a Complex World: Planning for the CEO of the Future (spencerstuart.com)

SEED KORN

In Miscellaneous Musing above, we read about focusing on CEO development. The white paper shared here drives into the "why" developing leaders should be an organizational objective everywhere. One thing the authors advance here is that development should take a systems approach versus an individual approach. Air Force civilians are required, by policy, to have an individual development plan. While this plan is not connected to either performance management or evaluation, it is also often disconnected from developmental feedback sessions, if that feedback is provided at all. I'm guilty of failing at that. My key takeaway here is that L&D should be casting a very wide connected, collaborative, and cohesive developmental plan. Imagine if we found a good way to connect development that wasn't siloed, rather was created to deliver greater team capability and capacities. Completely unscientific, but my experience suggests that in doing so, not only will the team perform better, but we are also more likely to generate improved job satisfaction and retention amongst and across the organization.?how-leadership-development-powers-engagement-and-retention-ccl-white-paper.pdf

Now that we've read about what CEOs of tomorrow need to master and taking a systems approach to learning and development within organizations (skilling, reskilling, upskilling), on what should we focus? This piece breaks leaders into four levels and addresses five key things that should be developed. They break the levels into frontline managers, mid-level managers, senior leaders, and executives.?The 20 Most Common Leadership Challenges | CCL

STUDYING STOICISM

Sir Winston Churchill put the theme of this Daily Stoic post this way;?Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities... because it is the quality which guarantees all others.?Courage is a skill that can be learned. Yes, like all skills, some have innate courage ... be it be physical, moral, mental, social, and/or intellectual courage. The great news is we all are capable of cultivating our own courage. I have often said and shared that courage isn't the absence of fear, it is the firm and foundational fortitude to act in the face of fear. Others have shared similar sentiments over many years with me personally, and I have read other's thoughts about the same. Grow and strengthen courage skills and be ready to apply them when and where needed.

"It might not work. It could go very badly. You could be laughed at. You could take a financial hit. You could come in second. You could fail. You could even die,

But?

Is life without risk possible? Could you possibly hope to make it through the world, to borrow a powerful rhetorical question from Meditations, without encountering any of these setbacks?

Of course not. This is why courage was such a critical virtue to the Stoics—because life demands it. You cannot do anything, go anywhere, be anyone without it.

The greatest Stoics were defined by their ability to go out there and do what they thought needed to be done, despite the incredibly unlikely probability of success. Cato went against Caesar…his daughter, Porcia, did the same. George Washington, in that winter of discontent at Valley Forge, drew on that exact example, putting on Addison’s play about Cato to inspire himself and his men. Stockdale had every reason to think he would not survive, that he would not triumph over his captors, but he never gave in.

We will not always win in life, but we will never win without an ability to face loss, without the courage to proceed anyway. Be not afraid. Be brave.

P.S. Courage is the mother of all virtues, Aristotle said, because in a world that’s not virtuous, it’s a brave thing to go out there and do what needs to be done."

---------

My wife calls this compartmentalizing. Like courage, I've worked to improve the ability to let stress, anxiety, and concern go. I still fail at this constantly, but I am not nearly as gripped with allowing stress to overwhelm me. Some stress is good! When we stress our minds when stretching to learn, or stressing our bodies by exercising, there is good benefit. Don't think the lesson here is to avoid stress, rather to isolate it, don't stew over it, and know how and when to just let things go.?

"Being a human and stress seem to just go together. Anxiety, concern—they follow too.?There’s always something we’re worried about. If we don’t perform well on this presentation, it could mean we won’t get the promotion. You felt a little tired yesterday, and this morning you have a cough—is it something serious? Oh no, we cannot afford to get sick right now.

We're juggling multiple responsibilities. We're making sure we take care of our physical and mental health, and we're striving to achieve our goals. We have bills to pay and mouths to feed. We are sensitive to the slightest changes in our environment, we are nervous about the slightest clouds on the horizon.

It is a modern affliction, but it has also always been this way. Not that it has to be. “I see my child is ill; that’s what I see, but I don’t see that he’s in any danger,” Marcus Aurelius writes in?Meditations. He was talking about stopping that very human, very natural extrapolation that we do (and extrapolation is the nice word here, because more often than not, it is better described as catastrophizing). His advice to himself—as a leader, a parent, and a philosopher—was to stick with the “first impression, adding no commentary of your own from within.”

Meaning, the cough can just be a cough. The subpar presentation can just be a single datapoint. Falling short today—it does not have to mean that everything is falling apart.

Stop torturing yourself! Be present. Focus primarily on what is front of you. Resist the impulse to add judgment or speculation on top of what you’re dealing with. Dealing with it alone is sufficient. You’ll do better and?be less stressed."

SUPER SLOAN

Many organizations can't resist the urge to "be first" even when that approach may well lead to failure rather than fantastic results. For many years now, I have read many, many case studies about Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Tesla, Netflix, Blockbuster, Borders Books, and on. Being first isn't always the right response, sometimes being the First Follower better fits the organization's goals AND actual abilities to deliver on a strategy. I'm not pushing one over the other approach, rather to wonder openly how many organizations, private or public, actually do the hard analytic work to determine the best approach avenues. From within the piece, the key line resonating with me is "do we want to create waves or sail smoother"? Of course, the answer is, "it depends". The authors advance three basic questions to help frame the way-forward thinking on developing, then delivering, digital strategy. From the piece:?

Our research shows that there is no silver bullet for choosing the optimal blend of digital strategy.1 (See “The Research.”) Instead, the effectiveness of a digital strategy depends on three key questions you must ask yourself:

What are our performance goals in the short or long term?

What digital strategies are our competitors pursuing?

How receptive is our market to digital disruption?

The answers to these questions can point you to the most effective digital strategy for your organization.?Three Questions to Ask About Your Digital Strategy (mit.edu)

----------

This is an excellent article! Every single client with whom I work is dealing with change. Every.single.one. Some have more sweeping changes occurring than others, but all have change occurring, with no end-state actually in sight. Why? Because competition requires evolution. Sure, sometimes those changes are incremental, other times they are explosively evolutionary. Strengthening those muscles, and continually sharpening them over time is essential to staying competitive. Twenty-two years ago, while taking a Graduate-level course when pursuing my Graduate Certificate in Organizational Management at The George Washington University, the professor opened the first class with this question; "change is _______". Every classmate was asked to fill in the blank, and try not to repeat what another classmate said. His bottom line point is, change is a myriad and multiplicity of things, and CONSTANT. Leaders must be thinking about this all the time. Again, size, scope, and sweep of a change, or series of changes, may be different, but like time, it ever marches forward. If we're not engaged in it; we will be passed by.?Strengthen Your Change Muscle for Competitive Advantage (mit.edu)

WINNERS WISDOM

So.much.truth.here. Relationships are everything. As genius as Steve Jobs was, without Steve Wozniak, who is often referred to as Apple employee #1, Apple and Jobs (and Wozniak) may not have been nearly as successful as they both became. George Washington, the father of the USA, also, as amazing as he was, absent his close relationships with Henry Knox (most importantly other than his wife Martha), Marquis de Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, and several others who sharpened him over time, his successes likely would not have been realized. In my own professional and personal life, key relationships have made all the difference and continue doing so. Jim's thinking about building bridges early and often are on point precisely because when we need them to help us get somewhere, they are already in place.

Building Bridges by Jim Stovall

Much of our personal and professional success in life comes from quality relationships. You may have heard the old adage, “It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.” While I think what you know is important, who you know is often critical. There will invariably be many times in your life and your career when you will need a friend, a colleague, a mentor, a prospect, or a powerful ally. These relationships are the most worthwhile things in life; they are not built overnight.

The best time to dig a well is long before you are thirsty, and the time to build bridges between you and people in your personal and professional lives is always now. Visitors to our offices at the Narrative Television Network are often surprised and fascinated by the signed photos and letters from movie stars, athletes, business icons, and politicians, including the last six presidents of the United States. These relationships were built over time like a high-quality bridge.

There are bridges suitable for foot traffic, bicycle riders, cars, and even trains, but you never want to try to cross a river with your vehicle utilizing a footbridge. These relational bridges you will build must be sturdy and ready to handle two-way traffic. All quality personal and professional relationships involve giving and taking.

I have written two books, Success Secrets of Super Achievers and Ultimate Hindsight, featuring interviews I did with mega-successful high-profile people. I’ve been asked repeatedly how I get a hundred celebrities to participate in a project. It’s very simple: I get a hundred by asking a thousand. Dealing with temporary rejection is a critical part of life and success. A baseball player can make it to the Hall of Fame while striking out seven out of every ten times at bat.

Whether it’s an employee, a coworker, a child, or a celebrity, one of the best ways to start building a bridge is to catch them doing something right. Every day, your local newspaper, national news outlets, and social media are filled with people reaching milestones and achieving honors. I’ve had a long-standing habit of reaching out to these people with a quick call or a note of congratulations. It’s amazing how far a sincere and heartfelt pat on the back goes toward building a bridge of friendship and collaboration.

As you go through your day today, select the people you want in your personal and professional lives and start building bridges.

Today's the day!

----------

Having corresponded?with Jim for nearly twenty years now, I can attest to, if you write to him, he will respond! We all know this, identify and implement micro habits (bolded below is my emphasis). Depending on the source, failure to keep New Year's resolutions falls somewhere between 80 and north of 90 percent. Several sources I read indicated that failure rate is reached by as early as February or March. There are a myriad of reasons in the reading and research, but to my thinking, it is mostly because the goals are too large. What Jim shares below is, set small steps and sequences into motion. Cumulatively, they will become greater in longer-term outcomes because the micro routines become just that, daily habits that keep us on the constant, consistent course towards our goals. In part, I am writing this as a reminder to myself about a couple micro habits I've let slide over some months now. Routines are good. Routines can be powerful. Just set ones that lead you where you want to land.?

Routines by Jim Stovall

Today’s column, like many of my weekly Winners’ Wisdom offerings, is prompted by a question from a reader like you from somewhere around the world. If you have any specific questions or topics, you would like addressed in an upcoming column, contact me at [email protected].?

I’m often asked about my morning routine and other consistent practices in my personal and professional life. As a morning ritual, I get up extremely early every day, generally before 4 a.m., and do my physical, spiritual, and mental exercises before 6 a.m. when I spend an hour with my wife Crystal, discussing our schedule, goals, priorities, and other topics of interest. I do this because I believe the better practices we can turn into habits by forming a steady routine, the better off we will be.

Another powerful practice is once you make a good decision, reinforce that decision by removing future choices. For instance, if you quit smoking, it’s best to get rid of all tobacco products and begin to identify yourself in your own mind and to others as a non-smoker.?

In addition to daily habits and routines, there are practices I call micro habits that can become the secret sauce for your success. My friend and mentor, Jack Nicklaus, arguably the best golfer ever, has a routine he goes through before he hits every shot. Among other things in addressing the ball, this routine involves him seeing in his mind exactly where he wants the ball to go. Once he has visualized it, then he hits the shot.

Airline pilots and surgeons have specific, never-changing routines they go through before each flight or operation. Making the right choice, creating a routine, and making it a habit is the best way to succeed and, more importantly, to maintain your success.

I have met many people who initially reached their financial, fitness, or other goals and then regressed because they abandoned the habits and routines that made them successful. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. You must commit to standard routines and form habits that are sustainable. No one can survive a starvation diet or a scorched-earth budget forever. Your success should stretch you but be both attainable and sustainable.

As you go through your day today, maintain success by making good choices and committing them to routines, and let me know the questions and topics I can cover for you.

Today's the day!

----------

In the prior piece, Jim shares how micro habits lead to successes. This piece, actually published the week prior to the one above, is a continuation of the same. If we are preparing ourselves through micro habits that lead to the outcomes we are pressing toward or pursuing, when the moment comes, we will have already been well conditioned to act correctly, make the right decision, and commit with courage.?

The Moment by Jim Stovall

As a young man, I came to believe that success happens when preparedness meets opportunity. I believed we simply needed to ready ourselves to pounce upon an opportunity when it appeared. While this is true, later in my life, I realized that magic and miraculous moments are not random or arbitrary. Instead, in many cases, we can control them.?

Last year, I had the privilege of getting to know and having several lengthy interviews with Chuck Wepner. Wepner will forever be known as “the real-life Rocky.” His fight with Mohammad Ali inspired Sylvester Stallone’s iconic character and film franchise.?

You may remember from the movie that Rocky was an unknown boxer who, through an amazing set of circumstances, got a chance to fight the heavyweight champion of the world. This opportunity certainly seemed to be a random or arbitrary moment in his life, but during the fight, Rocky created a life-changing moment. After being knocked down numerous times, he told the champion, “I’m not going down again.” On the movie screen, Rocky completed the 12-round fight and actually knocked the champion down at one point. While this makes powerful theater, it makes an even more powerful example in real life.?

Although he was badly injured and didn’t win, Chuck Wepner finished the fight standing. To this day, both his business card and logo show a photo of him standing over Mohammad Ali after he knocked the champion down. Chuck Wepner told me that while he realized he couldn’t defeat Mohammad Ali, he could seize the moment and create a legend—which is what he did.?

When good things or bad things happen to us, we always have a choice to either build on the positive or turn around the negative. I tell my audiences at arena and corporate events that we all have the right to choose. We are one quality decision away from anything we want, and we change our lives when we change our minds. This mindset does not require us to wait on some outside force or circumstance. As you read these words in a newspaper, magazine, or online publication, you can sit right where you are and decide to change your life forevermore. That single moment will begin a process culminating in you living your best personal and professional life.?

As you go through your day today, seize the moment and change your life.

Today's the day!

SUPER SLOAN

Leaders may need to create a free account to access this full article. Like HBR articles, MIT limits the number of monthly free reads. At one time, it was five per month, uncertain if that remains. This is a quick read and highlights a few things we often read about each month. How do we measure productivity and how do we ensure managers and leaders at all levels are having meaningful feedback sessions? Neither question is answered at depth, but a couple key takeaways for me. Don't assume teammates increased productivity means they have either gained new or better skills, and don't assume that increase is connected to better performance and developmental feedback. Developmental feedback should be connected to upskilling and improving. Performance feedback should be focused on evaluating how the teammate has executed against the agreed to goals for the evaluated period. Routine and regular check-ins are essential! A one annual review is not at all useful because it is either significantly lagging in response, or it could simply be halo effected by whatever the teammate did closest to the end of the evaluated year. Also, don't assume upskilling automatically means more productivity. Upskilling may simply make the quality of one's output improve but may not mean "more". For example, if a member is producing average work quality and they are upskilled with more power skills (used to be called soft skills), the output quality may elevate from average to good, from good to great, and/or great to exceptional on the same output numbers. That is also better for the organization but isn't necessarily more actual output (productivity).?Don’t Sacrifice Employee Upskilling for Productivity (mit.edu)

WORKLIFE WISDOM

When I became a military Flag Officer (both Generals and Admirals are called "flag officers" because they are presented with flags signifying the rank), I was required to attend specific protocol training provided by the Protocol School of Washington, whose founder is extensively quoted and interviewed in the following piece. While the crux focuses on the youngest professionals working today, it does highlight some things, I suppose I took for granted, when being grown and groomed across my own professional career. May well be because my 30 years of military experience necessitated understanding the protocols of performance. This isn't or wasn't just about which fork to use at a formal event, whether or not it was with foreign dignitaries, or all attendees were in-house military members and their dates or guests. It was also about how to interact with others, how to better communicate, how to think about presenting ourselves in the professional environment. This isn't a castigation of the much-maligned millennials, or seemingly silliness of Gen Z, rather, a good highlight that these are skills organizations should be thinking about addressing in how they train for better soft skills (or power skills as they are more known in today's lexicon). Provide more than just grace to younger working generations, provide them guidance and deliberate development of proven professional protocol actions and activities.?Not only will they perform better, by natural extension, the organization will as well.?'It's like they just rolled out of bed': Employers boost business etiquette training - WorkLife

Marketing's importance is not just limited to external audiences. My own thinking about marketing is, they can also help craft and communicate internally! This may require organizations to think (very) differently about how their marketing metrics, reach, and ROI are measured, but why not harness the professionals whose job it is to create compelling communications and memorable moments? Think about employee engagement. Can they help us? Yes! Given we should be recruiting our current team members?daily, why not harness the same the marketing teams do to help generate and gain external hires? Just makes sense to me.?Why HR and brand marketing are more connected than ever - WorkLife

This approach is not universally applicable. For example, if you are in the service industry, are an educator, a police officer or fireman, you need to be there, ready to work, when the schedule imparts you need to be in place, ready to work. Many professions require the same. But many, many posts and positions can be much more flexible. Particularly where hybrid work is occurring. My own approach to hybrid environments over the past several years was, "not to watch the clock". I did not care when teammates came and went, whether it was an in-person day, or they were teleworking. There were, of course, exceptions like mandatory attendance at training sessions (if they weren't on demand, rather live), team meetings, or on schedule presentations to our executives or other teammates. The last sentence is not an all-inclusive listing, rather examples of the kinds of things were being on time and target mattered. Otherwise, if teammates started at 6 am, or 10 am, provided the work for which they were responsible was being accomplished on time (or early!) and at the quality level I expected, then I was more flexible with when they started each working day.?Showing up to work late is more accepted in new hybrid arrangements - WorkLife

Read and Lead On!

Shawn