According to Woody Allen, “Showing up is 80% of life and success.” In many cases, I believe that…but not in all. When it comes to work and business, simply showing up doesn’t usually get the job done. It’s a great start, but the more important question to ask is, “how much of who we are gets to show up?” As a business leader, professional advisor and former employee, I’ve observed the many ways in which people ‘show up’ at work. In fact, I adopted my own retinue of ‘showing up’ personae over the years. These personae represented parts of the whole, but rarely the whole itself. Depending on the work environment, certain aspects got to show up and certain aspects were safeguarded outside the company walls. The whole enchilada was rarely made available. That’s a problem. Why? Because the extraordinary, the remarkable, the above and beyond, even the really good, is a product of the whole enchilada. A plain flour tortilla is not extraordinary. How fully and completely any given person is showing up at work matters. In fact, it’s huge. Leadership cannot survey their employees with the question “hey, how much of you is showing up here?” And, oftentimes, employee’s couldn’t answer because they don’t know. If, however, your people are bored, tired, angry, disconnected, apathetic, disillusioned, uninspired, disengaged—there’s your answer. How much is showing up? Only that which keeps their job in place. The flour tortilla. Companies and leadership have it within their power to invite the whole person to the party. It’s just that so few do. Either because they don’t know how, they don’t know the whole is missing or they don’t care. For those forward-thinking leaders who get it, who recognize the power of the whole person showing up at work—those leaders possess the ideal mindset to catalyze remarkable things. For leaders who state categorically that it’s the sole job of the employee to inspire themselves—well, I hope they’re satisfied with flour tortillas. Tired of your people just going through the motions? Interested in energizing and activating your workplace? It all begins at the leadership level. The leader leads the way. Discover 6 Steps You Can Take Today! 6 Steps You Can Take Today to Jump Start Your Company Culture...

  We have become so accustomed to leaders possessing a handful of culturally lauded qualities that we have forgotten some of the most critical aspects of remarkable leadership. Good looks, affability, charisma, confidence, easy talking, boldness and even height figure largely these days. Much of the appraisal is based on the visual—do they look the part. Then, do they sound the part. And, finally, do they act the part. Of course, content plays a role in our evaluation, though at times that can be difficult to assess. Now, I tend to look upon leadership less from the context side and more from the content side. I believe leadership, whether it be to one or many, is a pretty big deal. Whether it’s the guy who owns and runs a small service station or a person in political office or the CEO of a financial behemoth—if you inhabit the role of leading people, you have stepped into a place that requires more. It is not about being the ‘top dog,’ it’s about being the kind of person that earns the respect, loyalty, trust and support of those that follow. Our current culture has placed an enormous amount of ‘cred’ on the concept and trappings of celebrity. Interestingly, the Latin root of celebrity is celeber, which means honored. As a culture we seem hungry to honor someone and something. Or, to be honored ourselves. When it comes to leadership, this hunger may be fierce enough that we anoint too quickly. That in our haste to receive or offer this homage or honor we are asking too little from ourselves as leader or too little from others as followers. It’s time to appraise leadership from a deeper place. As a leader, it’s time to develop from a deeper place, regardless of the container in which one leads. Character, integrity, honesty, service, vision, compassion are the stuff of real leaders. They are the core qualities that create and animate the kind of leaders that are needed today. There are more than enough surface-level posers out there playing the role of leader and too few being a leader of real substance. Being a leader of substance requires a commitment to development and growth. Titles and letters, degrees and accreditation are mostly accouterment and not that which matters most. Beyond the surface lies the real truth of genuine leadership. It’s woven into the core and substance of the individual, who they are today and who they are actively becoming. We are all served by those who are able to demonstrate our potential as human beings, who live and act in accordance with a higher truth. That is the stuff of true leadership. The rest is...

  Over the years, business has been fervently looking for ways to control and reduce costs. There’s BPR, JIT, TQM, BPM, BPMN, BMM and more. All essentially systems designed to monitor, maintain, or reduce costs. Here’s what I find fascinating: amidst all of this focus on reduction there is little focus placed on amplifying and expanding the value of the company’s number one asset—the people that work there. The paradigm of ‘cost containment and reduction’ largely captures most of the attention. Here’s the thing, the number one asset of most organizations—the people—lies largely untapped. There’s that asset, showing up everyday, running at levels oftentimes well below potential. If a piece of equipment demonstrated similar efficiencies, the mechanics would be swarming. Yet, with people, it seems leadership is confounded as to how to enhance this vital asset. Simply stumped. In many ways, it’s not surprising. When it comes to working with people, the modus operandi has largely been ‘management’ oriented. A process which is in need of a significant refresh and quite possibly, a total replacement. It is simply an outdated tool. When you review what has occurred in the process improvement realm over the years, it’s replete with new ideas and innovation. When you review what has occurred in the people improvement realm…mostly different versions and varieties of ho-hum management. Let’s face it, many business leaders are unsure of how to legitimately increase the commitment, engagement, performance and productivity of the people in their company. The legacy of command/control and carrot/stick management practices, even in their more palatable forms, continue to be instituted. As such, they will continue to maintain what they have always maintained—most people doing just enough to not get fired. That is a waste of a remarkable resource. Without question, it makes sense to manage costs and reduce them where appropriate. But, it makes equal or more sense to expand upon the value of an asset that’s in place and showing up everyday. Getting out of the ‘reduction’ mindset with regard to people is essential. The name of the game on the people front is personal/professional expansion. Not from the old paradigm of “get more out of them,” but rather by increasing their connection, allegiance and willingness to do the job well. That’s the 180—people performing not because they are afraid of the repercussions if they don’t, but rather because it matters to them that they do. Is your company or management in need of a 180? How about your people? Give us 30 minutes. We’ll get you moving in the right direction. Schedule a Needs Discovery...

  Recently, I watched and shared a video featuring Life is Good cofounder, Bert Jacobs. If you’re not familiar with the company, he and his brother created this impressive business based primarily on selling tee shirts with simple messages and artwork. From the very first moment I saw their tee shirts hanging in a sports store I was smitten. The message “Life is Good” felt like a welcome reminder and healthy balancing agent. Their slogan got me thinking about the idea of not only “life” being good, but also of “work” being good. These two guys had obviously found a way to create a revenue-generating enterprise based on passion, fun, heart and contribution. A company that seemed to be about work and not struggle. They were clear about what they wanted, aware of their abilities, open to receiving input and guidance from others and intent on enjoying the ride. In addition, they had a larger goal than personal gain alone—the company’s gain was to be shared and extended outward. Now, there are business folks out there that may regard such thinking as Pollyanna or do-gooder. Many of us have become so inured to the idea of personal gain being the prominent objective of work and business that the idea of a broader perspective can seem irrational or suspect. More likely, that’s more of a conditioned perspective than an examined consideration. When you look closely and lay the two paradigms side by side, a legitimate argument is formed for the “Life is Good” guys. Their model unites and aligns energy for the good of the company and its numerous benefactors. The traditional model oftentimes has people pulling away from one another and towards themselves. That translates into energy that is un-harnessed, chaotic and in opposition. In essence, those people are likely working for another company altogether, one called Me and Mine, Inc. Life is good. Work is good. If not now, it can be. It’s all in what you see and make it. Life is Good decided to make their company and the way they do business good for all concerned. Rather than remaining in their van selling tee shirts, their philosophy magnified their business into a tee shirt empire. Now, some may call their philosophy Pollyanna, but not I. I would call it nothing short of head-based, heart-based genius. Make work good. Discover “5 Tips” to get good going. 5 Straightforward Tips to Become a Better Leader...

  In business as in life, we tend to look upon frustrating issues in isolation of their original source. When a problem or issue is experienced, once or repeatedly, it is oftentimes dealt with independent of that which has actually caused it to occur. This process likely ensures the problem will have a nice long run of creating havoc over and over again. It may show up wearing a new set of clothes, but trust me, it’ll be connected to the same root cause. That type of thinking and (re)acting are versions of really old thought and behavior processes. What began as a great way to respond to and hopefully survive saber-toothed tigers in the wild…”Tiger!!! Run!!!”…can often hamstring us in our more modern world. Add to that the parade of distractions technology has unleashed, and you have the perfect storm. A storm seeming to produce a need for the quick, the immediate and the impulsive. Our finely crafted ability to sort and compartmentalize has over time become a liability. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great skill to have in certain situations…just not all situations. In fact, it’s a skill that could use a wise, new colleague. This new colleague would quickly assess whether compartmentalizing and immediacy make good sense, as with the tiger, or whether a broader, deeper overview is warranted. The good news is that four-legged ‘lions and tigers and bears’ are not allowed into most workplaces. However, some two-legged forms do occasionally find their way in. That said, we rarely experience life-threatening, emergency situations at work. Yes, computer’s crash and manufacturing lines gum up, but most of the time there is an opportunity to cultivate a deeper understanding of the issue, as well as identifying a remedy more mindful of the root cause. In essence, to step into a more whole-system approach to the dilemma. Whole system, source-oriented thinking is a more evolved way of thinking. It introduces a different type of lens and focus to the process. It initiates a deeper exploration and allows for the additional time required. Like many aspects of business, which prove difficult to accurately calculate from a cost standpoint—the effects of disengagement, diminished productivity, lack of commitment, reduced workplace appeal—there are real costs associated with compartmentalized fixes. Making the choice to examine existing problems more wholly and with an eye to cause may take more time initially, but the gain will be found in the sustainability of the solution. Start seeing your company from a ‘whole’ new perspective. Become aware of how the parts impact the bottom line. Need some help sorting it out? Schedule your own complimentary Needs Discovery Conversation here...