Happy Thanksgiving!

...Because a thankful heart is a happy heart,
I'm glad for what I have, that's an easy way to start...

- The [Veggie Tales] Thankfulness Song

Take a look around and see your world in terms of what you have - as opposed to what you don't have. Then be thankful. This simple exercise serves two ends as a leader.

First, taking a hard look at reality in a positive light (being thankful) helps you be creative with what you've been given. Take what you've got - the gifts that you have - and use them! How can you use your talents and resources to get to where you want to be?

Second, a thankful heart is a happy heart. Sincere positive emotion can be a powerful motivator with others. Remember that as a leader you set the temperature in the room. If you're having a good day, the chances of everyone else having a good day are pretty high. Taking care of your own emotional health has a direct effect on the productivity and experience of those around you.

So take a few minutes today between the turkey and the football to really count your blessings. Your heart will thank you!

Positive Patience

The holidays are all but upon us: The cheerfulness, the family traditions, the parties - along with the crowds, the flaky relatives, and the rampant commercialization. So today, a little talk about patience. Exceptional leaders know the power of patience. You can't lead well when you let fear, anger or frustration get the better of you.

I struggle with patience. Don't you hate it when someone tells you to "be patient?" Ever notice how this admonishment never comes when you feel like being patient? It only comes when someone is being inordinately obnoxious or you're waiting for something that's taking way too long. It's never offered as a command, but as sage advice, like it's actually going to help.

We usually think about patience only when we're feeling impatient, which colors our definition of the word. Most of us define "being patient" as simply "not being impatient." As humans we're not very good at doing a negative. For example, if I told you not to think about a red truck right now - Boom! what just happened? Red truck, right? And the more you try to not think about a red truck the more the image clings to your mind. The only way to not think about a red truck is to take positive action and think about something else.

So what's the positive side of patience? What is the "do" of patience? I think patience is the discipline (and art) of seeing each moment as valuable. Patience is about searching out the meaning in the moment and not longing for what's next.

Whether you're waiting in line at a crowded store, dealing with a quirky coworker, or you're stuck in traffic, fight off impatience by striving to find the value in the moment you're in. Use that moment for fruitful thinking, be fully present with who you're with, daydream - at the very least, look for something to be thankful for. The change in perspective will improve your decisions, your experience, and the impact you have on those around you.

Step up to the Line

We all have a Line. It's buried beneath a heap of reputations, expectations, titles, and other "stuff," but somewhere down there is the line of who we really are, what we truly know, and what we can absolutely do.

As a leader you must step up to the Line of Who You Are.

Why? Because when you don't, you hurt the people around you.

We all know people who have stepped over their line. They're out there pretending to be more than they really are - and if they're leading you, often you have to deal with the consequences. Why are they like that? Fear. They're afraid they aren't enough. Ironically, most arrogance is the result of insecurity.

Most of us would never want to be thought of as arrogant. So we back off our line, keep our distance, establish a buffer zone. We hang out short of our line and consider ourselves humble. However, the extent that we shrink back from what we know we can offer is the extent to which we are cheating everyone around us. In truth, false humility is also motivated by fear - fear that we'll fail, or worse, succeed.

As leaders we need to step up to our Line. This is true humility and it draws those around us up to their lines. That's what extraordinary leaders do; they bring the best out those around them. Don't get me wrong, the fear will still be there. It takes courage to step up to the Line of Who You Are - and if there's one thing I know it's this: people follow courage.

Creating Creativity

Extraordinary leaders are, by definition, creative leaders. They see things others don't see. They find new and better ways to do things. They consistently pull win-wins out of no-win situations. So, how do you improve your creativity and become a better leader?

Last week I picked up some creative gems from Cliff Selbert, co-founder of Selbert Perkins Design Collaborative. He and his firm have created everything from logos to landmarks for organizations like Coca-Cola, LAX, and the Dallas Cowboys. When asked about his creative process, Cliff recommended three things:

1. Learn to juggle. I can vouch for this one - do yourself a favor and pick up this talent. It teaches you to use both sides of your brain almost simultaneously. Jugglers are constantly assessing and adapting to a changing system. They're also feeling for a rhythm while trusting what they've learned. Studies show juggling is a great "brain break," and works in the same way as "sleeping on" a problem.

2. Don't dally. The creative process doesn't have to take a long time. Cliff uses one-minute drills to stoke his team's creative juices. Everyone gets one minute to individually write down as many ideas as they can. The trick here is cultivating a group that trusts and supports one another and can choose to not judge ideas during the brainstorming phase. The result? His team usually comes up with the initial concepts for their biggest projects in an afternoon.

3. Accentuate the positive. When presenting or evalutating your ideas, ask people to tell you what they like about them. Tell them to keep what they don't like to themselves. Cliff testifies that whenever they use this approach it pushes the process forward, but when people start with what they don't like, the process can stall and even moves backwards.

Are you or your organization facing a looming problem? Are you already stalled in the midst of one? Invest some time in real brainstorming - think of the craziest ideas that will actually solve the problem then work back to what's possible from there. Keep the conversation positive and moving forward. Finally, if you're brave enough, learn to juggle!*

*Hint: try starting with juggling scarves, they're easier!

Friday the 13th

It's estimated that 17 to 21 million people in America suffer from paraskavedekatriaphobia. Say that one three times fast. Actually, I'd be impressed if you could say it just once. It's the fancy name for the fear of Friday the 13th. Donald Dossey, founder of the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, NC, estimates that $800 to $900 million is lost in business because of the behavior shifts that occur every time Friday falls on the 13th.

Whether or not those estimates are correct, the truth is our fears - legitimate or not - affect our behavior. As leaders we must acknowledge our fears; if we don't we are fooling ourselves - and, by extension, those we mean to lead. I disagree with the popular "No Fear" brand - they're promoting delusion and posturing. I also disagree with Andrew Jackson when he exhorts you to "never take counsel of your fears." By all means take counsel of your fears! That's why you have them - to keep yourself and others alive and safe.

Fear is a good thing. Besides keeping us safe, it's a crucial ingredient for one of the key attributes of an extraordinary leader: Courage. Without true fear, true courage cannot exist. Courage isn't an absence of fear; courage happens when you're afraid, but you chose to press on. And when people see true courage, they follow it.

Fear is a power hungry emotion. It wants to call the shots. Your fears are not - and never should be - in charge; you are. That's what Roosevelt was warning against when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." FDR knew a little about irrational fears. He refused to begin traveling on the 13th of the month. He avoided it at all costs. He even died on Thursday, April 12, 1945, refusing to travel to the hereafter on Friday the 13th.

So don't pretend away your fears, but don't let them rule you either.

The Cost of Freedom

My mind always seems to meander on November 11th. It usually begins at Versailles at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918. Then it's off to a tour of courage and sacrifice: Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Bastogne, Ia Drang. Soon my thoughts drift to those who gave all they had, who never came home. Some are merely men from stories and history books; some, like my grandfather, I wish I had known; and some are classmates and friends with whom I served. I see their smiles, the light in their eyes, and wonder, "what if?" Then there are the living sacrifices, friends who survived, but returned not quite whole. Finally, into my mind come the faces of friends and family who still wear the uniform, who still stand on the line.

To them all I say, "Thank you."

It's good to take this day to honor those who stand in harm's way on our behalf. But I urge you to do so knowing that they don't just stand there one day a year or when we think of them. They are there every day and every night, securing the life we live.

I challenge you to honor the sacrifice they live by taking advantage of the gift they give: live a life well led. Don't do it out of guilt or in any attempt to pay them back (the sacrifice is freely given), but with joyous gratitude for the freedom and opportunity that you enjoy everyday. That's the best way to honor their service.

And, of course, thank them when you see them.

Quote of the Day

It really says something about your leadership when you have to build a wall to keep your people in.

- My wife in a discussion about the Berlin Wall

New Rules = New Worlds

Twenty years ago today the world was changed forever.

I remember watching the news and thinking - even as a teenager - that I'd wake up the next morning and the world I'd known all my life would be different. We'd heard rumblings of reform from Hungary and Poland, but the Berlin Wall? It seemed too good to be true. How did it happen?

Today Mikhail Gorbachev is widely recognized for setting the conditions that brought the wall down. He definitely deserves credit for the courage it took to lead such drastic change in the Soviet Union. However, perhaps greater credit is due the man who brought the Soviet Union to the economic breaking point that forced Moscow to choose between its satellite state collection and national survival.

Ronald Reagan began to erode the foundations of the Berlin Wall in 1983 when he announced his intent to build the Strategic Defense Initiative. The biggest bluff in the history of political science (SDI was just a pipe dream back then) put the USSR back on their heels. Until that point mutual assured destruction kept the nuclear super powers balanced, but if the US could develop an effective shield, then the USSR would have to develop their own shield or else their enormous nuclear arsenal would be strategically useless. Moscow bankrupted their own economy frantically trying to match what Washington never really had.

By June of 1987 Reagan knew his bluff had worked as he stood in West Berlin and shouted, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

For decades Soviet Premiers and American Presidents had raced to build bigger, smarter nukes than the other guy. Who ever said that was the only way to play the game? With the introduction of SDI Reagan changed the rules of a game neither side could win. And by changing the rules, he changed the world.

What rules do you need to change in order to change your world?