All posts in the Leadership category
I am a systems thinker. As soon as I enter a new. . .whatever. . .I start seeing the systems in place (or that need to be in place). My head starts designing the inputs and outflows, the structures of what is happening or should be happening, the way it works.
Today (and tomorrow), I am faced with “Found Days.” That is, I was supposed to be heading off to a race with my wife and “out of the office” for a couple of days. While I would have had my trusty laptop with me and could get some things done, there would have been limits.
Earlier in my career, I was a regional dean for Indiana Wesleyan University. During a significant portion of that assignment, I was responsible for the Cleveland Education Center (Ohio) as well as the Louisville Education Center (Kentucky). For those not familiar with that part of the country, that’s about a four-hour drive between the two. During that time period, I would switch back and forth between being onsite at each location: one week in Cleveland, one week in Louisville.
I can’t tell you how many times that I’ve had this conversation as a parent with my children. Sometimes it has been about examples that are in front of my children as teachers or leaders. . .sometimes it’s about me. I tell them as we’re reflecting on the situation and can find very little positive that happened: “I’m sorry but you’re going to have to learn from the negative on this one. You’re going to have to see what not to do and learn to do the right thing.”
In our household, the end of the year can be an extremely busy time (I’m sure we’re the only ones, right?!?). Not only do we have the normal holiday rush, my wife’s company often has rush work at the end of the year. As a result, there is always the likelihood that she will be racing to get everything done and reports written for clients. The question for us becomes, “what is really important that has to get done and what can wait?”
One maxim that I share with team members here at InterLearn is that “you can tell clients that you don’t know.” That is, I want them to know that they don’t have to know it all.