Fri • Aug 28th, 2009 • by Tom Nees • Comments 2
reflections on the death of Senator Edward Kennedy
The death of Senator Edward Kennedy from brain cancer after fifteen months of treatment including surgery unfolded in a very public way. From a distance we have watched his determination not to give in or give up and his final appeal, just a few days before he died, to change the Massachusetts law that requires a lengthy process for choosing his successor.
The Senator wasn’t as public and transparent as was Randy Pausch, a computer science professor who invited us to join him until the end of his life last year in his struggle with pancreatic cancer. His 2007 speech at Carnegie Mellon University “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” which included CT scans of his cancer, inspired his best-selling book The Last Lecture.
The news this past year has been full of Kennedy’s battle with cancer. We all knew what was going on. His death was a stark personal reminder of something I don’t often think about anymore – that I am a fortunate cancer survivor – ten years out now from prostectomy – surgery for prostate cancer.
I’ll never forget the panic upon hearing the “c” word following a biopsy and the trauma of deciding on treatment when doctors disagree. With the support of family and friends I made it through surgery and evidently I’m cured.
A personal faith gave me strength to survive and left me with a sense that every new day is a gift for which I’m extremely thankful.
My colleagues and good friends Bill Sullivan and Chuck Zink had cancer at about the same time. In spite of every treatment available they didn’t survive. And something I’ll never understand – their wives too succumbed to cancer within months of their passing. Nearly all of us have friends and family members who have or are battling cancer. Some have survived – others have not. Who knows why?
Whether through remarkable survivors such as Lance Armstrong or victims like Senator Kennedy we are also reminded that there is so much more to be done to find a cure for cancer.
When celebrity leaders are stricken we are unavoidably reminded of our own mortality and the uncertainty of life. We learn important life lessons vicariously. Their public lives draw us into an inevitable journey that we might otherwise ignore.
Wed • Aug 19th, 2009 • by Tom Nees • Comments 6
– while sailing on the Chesapeake Bay and running through the U.S. Naval Academy
I just took a leader to the Baltimore-Washington airport following a two-day conclusion to what has been a six-month executive coaching engagement.
During these two days we spent several hours reviewing and interpreting the results of his 360 Feedback Report and his iWAM self-assessment on motivation and behavior. With what he learned from those reports he took most of an evening to develop the outline of an action plan which we spent the next morning refining.
Before looking at the specifics of his plan he told me that he had come to understand that this executive coaching experience was less about what he was going to do as result of this experience than about who he is becoming as a leader. I thought – right on, you’ve got it.
However, his action plan was very practical. It included steps in the personal development of his leadership style – correcting some things that are not working for him as well as he would like. It also included specific action steps for advancing goals and outcomes for his organization.
He’ll share his plan with those who I interviewed on his behalf for his feedback report. And I agreed to continue talking with him about implementing the action steps he believes are important for his personal development and the influence he has upon the organization he leads.
I’ve gotten well acquainted with him after two on-site visits and this time together. Early morning coffee, extended conversations during meals, gelato at the City Dock in Annapolis, sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, running through the U.S. Naval Academy provided valuable and enjoyable time for unhurried and restful reflection. Getting away for a few hours seemed to help him and me drill down to the most important leadership issues in his life rather than simply responding and reacting to the unrelenting urgencies of his assignment.
As he left with an action plan in mind and written down so that others will know what he wants to do, I wondered. How many leaders have taken time, and have the courage to get candid third-party feedback from those who know them best? How many leaders are aware of what motivates them and how their behavior affects others? And how many leaders have a plan – not only for the organizations they lead, but for themselves?
The value of executive coaching for leadership development is in the action plan. Without an action plan, assessments and reading about leadership provide interesting information with little positive outcome.
Wed • Aug 12th, 2009 • by Tom Nees • Comments 3
Do leaders have to be lonely? Is there something inherent in leadership positions and authority that creates or even requires separation from others? Is there a better way of describing the personal responsibility of leadership than loneliness?
Most leaders I have known have talked about a certain degree of isolation that comes with leadership responsibility. It’s not that leaders are cut off from personal contact. In fact they may be surrounded by people pressing for attention and favors, by people who would like to be thought of as friends for personal gain.
Some suggest that leadership loneliness is self-inflicted and can be overcome. In Leadership Gold John Maxwell says that “If it’s lonely at the top, You’re not doing something right.” The “Lonely Leader: It’s no longer lonely at the top,” is a website for leaders to anonymously post questions to be answered by experts. Leaders wouldn’t be lonely, according the creators of this site, if they had someone, anyone, to confide in and find answers to their questions.
Richard Schubert, the past president of Bethlehem Steel, and The American Red Cross, and Undersecretary of Labor, now an executive coach told me that today’s leaders become isolated by heavy demands on their time and information overload. He believes leaders can combat this kind of isolation, if not loneliness by effective delegation and refusing to micromanage.
Aloneness comes closer to describing the leader’s essential role than loneliness. No one needs to be lonely. It’s not that leaders are lonely people – although some may be, or that leadership necessarily cuts people off from rewarding relationships. However, at times leaders need to stand alone as they call followers to a course of action.
The aloneness of leadership was expressed in the famous sign on President Harry Truman’s desk “The Buck Stops Here.” The sign was a constant reminder that as a leader he couldn’t pass leadership responsibility – “passing the buck” – to anyone else.
That doesn’t mean the leaders make decisions in a vacuum. The aloneness of leadership is that after listening to the advice of others and considering all of the pros and cons of a course of action a leader has to depend upon a personal inner compass for direction.
Sun • Aug 2nd, 2009 • by Tom Nees • Comments 1
Leadership is about communicating ideas, opinions or a point-of-view that attracts a following. Much of what leaders do and are known for is managing systems rather than advancing creative ideas.
An elected politician who simply reflects the views of constituents is hardly a leader. Nor is a corporate CEO who does little more than maintain profitability. Even entrepreauners who create a new product or provide a needed service are not always leading. As important as it is to have good managers in positions of responsibility this is not necessarily leadership.
Leaders, whatever their position, are set apart by communicating creative if not original ideas and their ability to organize a following. There are no leaders without followers who partner with them to implement action.
For institutional leaders who must subordinate their own ideas and opinions to the organization’s mission and core values, advancing a personal point-of-view can be a challenge. The range for creative thinking is limited. Nevertheless an important question for institutional leaders is how and in what ways can they influence the organization. They should not discount the possibility of using their position to effect change.
When asked about leadership in a recent video interview, Vinod Khosia, co-founded of Sun Microsystems, responded that leaders must believe strongly and have confidence in their own ideas.
“To me,” he said, “leadership is about having an opinion that’s formed on your own belief system.” He went on, “Once you believe in what you do then you can confidently lead with it.” He offered Larry Ellison at Oracle and Steve Jobs at Apple as examples. “They’re willing to bet a lot on their point-of-view. That to me,” he concluded, “is leadership.”
I would add people like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Bill Wilson who started Alcoholics Anonymous, and Millard and Linda Fuller, founders of Habitat for Humanity – all of whom gave their lives to ideas they believed in.
In the interview Khosia observed that if you work for a large company – he mentioned Ford – you get fired for taking a risk that fails. But if you are with a start-up and you do something radical that fails you move to the next start-up.
Leadership, Khosia said, “comes from thinking for yourself, taking in lots of input, but having confidence in your own conclusions.”
If I were to teach a course on leadership I would begin with the why, not the how of leadership. I would ask – what idea do you hold so strongly that you’re willing to talk about it and do whatever it takes to make it happen? That’s where leadership begins.