Message to my Team During Disruptive Times

This week, I want to write a short message to all of you regarding the state of our country and the lessons in leadership we can learn from the most recent series of events.  I’m not going to state my opinion on the subject but I do want to say this and I want to be clear about it:  If you ever feel that you are treated any differently due to any attribute outside of your attitude and your performance at our company, please let me know immediately and let’s talk about it.  That will never be acceptable in our organization.  

What I really want to write about this week is to encourage everyone to watch what is going on and learn from it.  Watch the leaders that are in positions of power and authority right now, how are they responding to this?  There are many of them who are seeing a void and stepping up to fill it.  There are many who are seeing a void and are stepping in to aggravate it or make it larger.  No matter what side of any conflict you are on, no one wins when you operate with the mindset of working to make the void larger, to make the conflict worse.  The role of a leader is to HAVE an opinion/goal that benefits the people they are leading the most and that opinion should always be focused on benefiting the majority of the group WITHOUT negatively affecting the group as a whole.  Not everyone can win or benefit all of the time in a world where our resources and attention are finite and we are often faced with these tough decisions but clearly stating your opinion and your agenda, WHY you feel that way and taking FEEDBACK from and COLLABORATING with all of your peers/people regardless of any attribute is path to the right decision.  The best ideas should always win no matter who they come from.  The experience you need to make your decisions is always held by those that are closest to the problem.

I also want you to focus on the leaders that are stepping up that are NOT currently in positions of power.  This is how we grow as a nation and as an organization.  If you don’t like how things are or if you have better ideas - stand up and state them, start conversations, get people together and set the wheels of change in motion.  There is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this.  I stated in the previous paragraph that the responsibility of the leader is to benefit the majority of their people without hurting the group as a whole.  There are constructive ways to lead and set change in motion.  Whatever you do - unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary and a life/death situation, do not widen the void.  Make sure that you are always focused on being part of a new solution to an existing problem, do not create new ones.

In short, if you are already a leader - Lead by example and lead by positively impacting those around you no matter how you feel about their opinion.  Stand for what you believe but stand for everyone’s well being at the end of the day.

If you are not a leader but you want change - step up and become one.  Think of what you can do to elevate yourself among your peers and work with the other decision makers or other leaders in the organization to make that change.

Watch carefully and learn some lessons from what is happening around you - learn right and wrong and craft your plan for your future.

“A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.” - Napoleon Bonaparte

“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep, I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a Lion.” - Alexander the Great