Ask any leader to share what they wish they could avoid and top of the list would be : I wish I could avoid being interrupted by people in my daily schedule. When Doug Conant became a CEO, he tried his best to not get interrupted. Did not work. Left with no other choice, he thought over how he viewed the challenge. He was looking to avoid these people interruptions so that he could maximise opportunities for exerting stronger leadership – at a time and place of his own choosing. What if he looked at it differently? What if these interruptions themselves were timely opportunities to exert strong leadership? Thats when he came up with the concept of a Touchpoint. A Touchpoint is an interaction where you get an opportunity to deal with an issue and move things forward. People were coming to Doug because there was an issue they needed his help on. The brilliant insight Doug had was that when people come to you for a talk on their own, they are already primed to be receptive to what you…
Creating space by reclaiming time – A message for achievers and leaders
You clump all of the wood material and stack it on top of each other. And start the fire. But, the fire doesn’t catch on. All the wood is right there. Something is not working. What is it? An experienced camper taps you on the shoulder and you step aside. She rearranges the wood in some pattern that you can’t make sense of. And lo and behold, a brilliant blaze starts leaping up towards the sky! What did the camper do? She created space, oxygenating space, as Juliet Funt calls it. Fire needs air to move through the wooden pile and supply oxygen. In the previous arrangement, there was no space and no air movement. When the space is there, you have a fire! Where is the oxygenating space for us in our lives? To power us towards achievement. Funt calls it white space, in reference to the white that signifies free time on our scheduling calendar. Coloured is time blocked. White is time without anything scheduled. This time – creating it, safeguarding it, and expanding it – holds the…
A focus-creating question for new executive leaders
Sometimes, your journey to the top makes you believe you already know the view from the summit. Even before you get there. Executive leaders work diligently to get to the top. As deserving performers over the years, they learn in the school of hard knocks. Many a time, they have made a mental note of how they will do things differently once their time comes. Ask them questions and they will have ready answers. How their function, their area is performing. What the ‘real’ obstacles are. What the most crucial tasks are, who the most critical team-members are. All this and more. In effect, they know what efforts they want to put in when their time comes. And when they do take charge, the first impulse is to intensify effort. They want their team, their function to do better on all parameters. What does the executive leader do? In good faith, he takes upon himself the responsibility of being a good leader. And looks inwards, to his responsibility area, the team in place, and how he can lead them. What…