on life and leadership
‘Status quo leadership’ is about carefully keeping everything neat and as it is. It is about doing anything not to upset the way things are and nothing to change them.
A leader who does this is practicing, for lack of a better term, ‘status quo leadership’. “Lack of a better term” because it is not leadership. The most obvious sign of a status quo leader is one who is always defensive about things being changed.
I saw this video from Dumt & Farligt, a Dansih TV show, where the footage was slowed down to 2,500 frames per second. Some of the subjects they chose were a little random but interesting to see at that speed. Check out the video and catch my thoughts after and please do share some of yours. Catch you after the video!
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Some of my thoughts while watching the video was, “these guys are insane.” I wouldn’t mind working with them. How did they choose their subjects? Crazy.” Then I think the most significant thought was,
“what spectacular thing would i like to slow down. to savor seeing it unfold in the most captivating way?”
We run through life to get to the next thing. Leadership rushes to the next big thing. To the next lab for the next level of innovation etc. We are constantly driven to the next thing. How often do we actually slow things down to appreciate their beauty as they unfold.
The video, for example, shows amazing patterns when the baseball bat meets the egg. We normally do not see the beauty in that when we look at it with our normal eyes. How often do we miss seeing the spectacular because we are not disciplined enough to slow down.
the spectacular is all around us. It is just that we don’t slow down, just enough to realize and appreciate it.
I’m not suggesting to abandon our resolve for the next innovation or moving on to, or deciding the next challenge. But that we do actually slow down, in a sense, enough to appreciate the spectacular.
It is not that there are no spectacular things happening in our lives, leadership and enterprises, it is just that we never slow down, just that much slower to actually appreciate them enough.
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Not everyone you lead is following you. That may sting some leaders’ ego. Being on your team is not synonymous with being on the same page. Neither is it clear declaration of motives.
Heretic leaders have to trust that those that rally alongside with them in their cause have the same motives as themselves but are not naïve to overlook other factors that may motivate their involvement. Though people follow you, they may follow some of these more than they follow you.
image by DavidSpinks | cc
Some do not follow you but others that are following you. You may have influence over all the people you lead but not all of it is direct. Some of the influence you have is indirect. You can identify those following others as those who do not immediately react to your calls or statements but first wait to get their cues from others.
They have no opinion until someone voices theirs. To lead and influence the ones who follow others, identify and be intentional about leading their leaders
Others simply have their own motives. They may be in your ship but they have their own destination in mind. They are sometimes easy to spot and the experienced ones extremely difficult. However, one of the easiest ways to identify them is how they constantly change stances, not based on reason per se but based on what serves them best.
This type of “follower” is often in the mix of “political” wrangles in the team. How do you lead them? You don’t. You get them off your team before they derail the cause. If not dealt with they can frustrate you and draw energy from you that should be going into your mission.
Some people follow the cause you actually rally them behind. This is a great thing. You can identify these people by they persistent and passionate reference to the cause in challenging some of the decisions you make. They also speak up when they feel you, as the leader, are compromising the mission by some of your calls or conduct.
They can be a pain but help keep you true to the cause. While you seek to shatter the status quo and define a greater future, the cause followers will constantly challenge you to shatter your status quo as the leader. Value and keep them.
Lead regardless… Be bold. Be /ˈherətik/.
One of the posts in my archives that still gets visits often is, “Some of My Favorite Quotes From the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” Yes, you read right. The search term that seems to get people to that post is one for Winnie the Pooh‘s, “what day is it?” phrase. I don’t try to make everything sound deep but I thought of a few reasons as to why people might search for that quote and attempted to highlight what it could mean. Here’s my take:
Winnie the Pooh: What day is it?
Piglet: It’s today
Winnie the Pooh: My favorite day
“What day is it?” is a question we all ask at one point or another. The need to know includes worry that we might have missed out on something important or that we ought to be seeing to at some point. It is a means to calibrate ourselves in relation to what we may or may not be looking forward to. One of the underlying reasons to ask is that we know how far we are from something and how much time we still have to prepare for it.
Piglet doesn’t give a day of the week, as one would expect from him. He simply states, “It’s today”. One of the lessons from Piglet’s answer is the need to be in the present. Today people miss out on being present in many ways. A good example can be the impact of social media on daily life. For instance, you can miss out on the experience of a concert because you’re thinking about taking cool pictures to Instagram and share with your friends.
Or, consider the challenges bloggers face to stop looking at how they can make anything content. How much are we engaged with the present? The other significant challenge is not to allow the past to rob us of the present, or fixation with the future and its uncertainties to rob us of the job that can be today. (This is not to say we must not pay the future the attention it warrants).
This should challenge how we live and lead. How well do we revel in the today? Today must always be our favorite day. Yesterday is spent and we can plan to secure the future to an extent but in reality all we actually have is now. Today is all we have to define tomorrow. After all, we only get one day at a time. So it might as well be our favorite day.
If you haven’t already, check out: Some of My Favorite Quotes From the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Doing something repetitively can be enabling force in getting better at whatever you do. On the other hand, if we are not careful the same repetition can be seeds for apathy.
Repetition is not a bad thing in itself; it is how we manage the times of iteration. Apathy is not the only possible fruit of iteration but a loss of respect also. When you are constantly engaged in the same activity it is easy to take what you do for granted.
image by Henri Photography | cc
The counselor to young people can easily get used to success stories that they rarely move him compared to when he started. The leader can get used delivering results and what is expected of him that he doesn’t see as much value in it as it had earlier.
The doctor can take for granted her role to help people get better. Not that the value of what we do gets lost, we just stop recognizing and acknowledging it.
We all need to be reminded that what we do matters. Your leadership matters. Taking care of your household matters. Your work and leadership matter immensely. They could be the difference between life and death for some.
What you do can mean the difference between uplifting others or leaving them in the mire of despair. Hope dies when you disrespect your work. The possibility of innovation ceases when you do not respect your work. Humanity needs you to value what you do as a reminder that others matter.
When we have no respect for our work we abuse the resources that are supposed to enable it.
When we stop respecting our work and leadership we trifle with it and give other people the right to do the same. We devalue ourselves. Our work must not be the totality of our (self) worth. However, some of it comes from our ability to positively contribute to something greater.
Not respecting our work is synonymous with disrespecting ourselves. We insult others. We must recognize that we are all connected. Our actions, no matter how isolated they may seem have an impact on those around us and many we cannot see. These can include people who are indirectly in the chain of recipients of our work and leadership.
when we have no respect for our work we forfeit the possibility of changing the world in ways we cannot imagine
Respect is necessary for us to value what we do. Understanding value of what we do also feeds respect for our work. It is cycle that perpetuates itself. When you do not respect your own work you will eventually stop respecting the work of others.
When you’re constantly throwing stones at other people’s work it might just be that you have stopped respecting your own. We can easily become agents of demeaning value on others and their work.
Do you still have respect for your work? What are some of the instances you’re seen where respect for ones own work has been lost?
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