A New Year note from Mike

Happy New Year!

This note was originally written and sent to leaders who we’ve worked with over the past couple years. After writing it, it seems appropriate for anyone who might be visiting our site and leading teams.

It just turned 2008 and everything looks a little different now. It could be it’s the New Year thing. It could be a recent meeting I attended facilitated by Peter Block with an intimate group of owners of firms like Crux Move (I’ll talk about that later). Or it could be this year I’ll be 50. But I am personally, like many of my client/friends, reviewing and re-thinking my life goals. Life is full of pulls. I think it’s supposed to be. I’ve found that over the years it’s challenging to not have meaning get traded for stability, or making a real difference fall victim to the tug of financial success. Each season in our life has different pulls that are truly important. So given the wisdom we have accumulated to date what should we be paying attention to now? And how does that impact our goals? And how does that inform our leadership?

Maybe it’s being in the crucible that is Michigan’s business climate right now but we are also seeing a different requirement placed on leaders today than we have seen before. Or at least now it seems more evident. As many companies are re-structuring, re-organizing and changing direction faster than ever to meet the demands of the business environment employees are feeling less and less a significant part of the plan ahead and more and more instable. That feeling of vulnerability doesn’t provide for much breathing space which is pretty essential in creating an environment that delivers long term success. So how does a leader provide enough stability to create the space for folks to breathe and bring their gifts to bear on the challenges the team takes on?

In the last couple of years we have made it a core part of our work with leaders to help them explore their personal vision. To go through a process of looking back at their life, acknowledging significant events and capturing what drives them, who they are and why they have been successful. What we have found is that through their exploration leaders seem to get more solid and focused on what is really important to them. Not just important right now, but what is going to be important next week as well. When they are clearer about what is important to them and they are clearer about where they want to go, it is easier to share that message with those they lead. That solidness and clarity is a powerful pull for those that feel a little lost in the fog.

By the way, our belief is that successful leaders already have inside of them their own compelling vision of the future. It’s been very gratifying and confirming to help them put words to it – even when they weren’t so sure in the beginning.

Here’s to making 2008 your best year yet.

Michael

P.S. I’ll get to it later this year but in the meantime check out Peter Block’s book, The Answer to How is Yes. It may just be one of the two most thought provoking books I’ve read in my first fifty years.

 
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