Yes, Rudolph Provides Us a Leadership Lesson

Santa & Rudolph 1964

It has been said that this is “the most wonderful time of the year” and many of us focus on events with friends and family as we celebrate the holidays.  As leaders this is a great time to refocus and refresh as the New Year is just days away.  I found myself captivated by the idea that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer turned 50 this December.  I still remember vividly the Santa commercial as he glided through the snow sitting on a Norelco shaving head.  Those were great memories, and now as an adult, I see the leadership lesson in this childhood-animated story.

Rudolph had the gift of a nose that lit up and his reindeer friends ostracized him for being different.  However, this uniqueness was a gift years later when Santa needed that special skill to light the way on a foggy Christmas Eve.  Had Rudolph not been there at the right time and place, the delivery of toys would have been delayed and millions of children would have suffered as a result.  Rudolph, as we all know, saved the night, and in essence, became Santa’s number one helper in the process.

That is a classic story and one that still delights millions of families annually.  

So what is that one gift that you have as a leader that lights the way for your workforce?  What are those gifts that you see and appreciate in your leadership team?  Who do you as a leader turn to in your hour of need for help from someone on your team?

Be assured, if you do not know your team well, you cannot call upon them to utilize their unique giftedness to help not only in times of need, but in times of growth, development, and change too.  You as a leader need to not only be strategic but also tactical in your business operations.  Knowing your team’s strengths and weaknesses serves a leader well when he or she invests the time to analyze and understand the team dynamics.  Those strengths are assets and those weaknesses can be targeted areas of growth when individuals are encouraged to pursue development to shore up those personal areas to benefit the team as a whole.

You may not encounter a foggy night where you need a flying reindeer with a blinking red nose to light the way, but be assured that you will find yourself from time-to-time in a situation where your leadership will be tested and you’ll need someone else’s help.  Find that Rudolph on your team and ask them to step up to exercise their gifts to benefit the organization. That investment of your time early on puts you in a place where you know your workforce and success will be possible because you will know whom to call and when. 

Make 2015 a time to capitalize in getting to know your workforce and your leaders even better.  Allow them a chance to show off what they know and what they can do so that when the time comes they can exercise their unique gifts to make it through an organizational challenge, growth opportunity, or crisis.  

Sony Hacking & Speaking With Good Purpose

Within the past few weeks Sony Pictures was illegally hacked and an enormous treasure trove of corporate secrets were released to the public for all to see. Several hundred gigabytes of financial data, invoices, bank accounts, promotional activities, celebrities’ personal data, emails from Sony executives, movie release schedules, and unreleased movie scripts were included in the stolen data dump.

According to press reports, “Every aspect of Sony Pictures' business is out in the open — audits, budgets, budget overages, bank accounts, wire transfers, invoices, financial forecasts, legal documents, personal notes and emails, strategic documents, plans and presentations.”  The cost to their business will be long-term and the damage to Sony Pictures may really not be known for sometime as security experts are only beginning to now assess the breach and its real implications on their business.

One of the areas of data that has gotten the most press is the private emails from Sony executives detailing their personal feelings about celebrities.  It’s clear that personal opinions shared privately have the power of derailing relationships once they are made public. In one exchange, Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin call Angelina Jolie a "spoiled brat" and suggest that President Obama may enjoy the movie "Django Unchained." 

These executives never imagined that this email exchange would ever be seen by anyone else, let alone, the people they were bantering about.  What they thought privately, put in writing, and shared through an email server was hacked and shared with the world.  I am not sure that being embarrassed fully captures their feelings knowing this happened. 

The situation with Sony Pictures is nothing new when you compare it to the number of individuals annually that encounter identity theft.  What makes this situation so unique is the fact that this corporation is at the epicenter of our celebrity culture.  They are creating, dealing, and promoting the fantasy and joys of fame.  The harsh reality of Hollywood’s cutthroat tactics rarely gets the spotlight that this hacking scandal has produced.  

This is a great reminder to every leader that matters of privacy can quickly become public fodder by a few strokes at a keyboard. So think about this situation as a leader.  Do your public comments match your private conversations?  Do you build others up in public and then tear them down in private?  Are you a leader that speaks and shares with good purpose?  

When your private conversations don’t align with your public comments, you as a leader are breaking trust with your workforce and that directly impacts productivity and workplace satisfaction.  When your team feels that you trust, value, and care about them, they invest more in the work at hand and find greater satisfaction knowing that the values of your leadership are seen in a combination of your words and actions. 

It’s clear that circumstances like what has happened to Sony Pictures brings us all to the same conclusion. You have the ability to encourage, praise, and think the best of others.  Taking the time to do just that matters, especially when your private comments may go public. 

“Encouraging others can be the catalyst to unleashing their greatness.”  Rob Liano

Think - Act - Inspire

I was captivated this week with the launch of the Orion spacecraft.  After it had circled the world twice, and then splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, I was inspired to think about the future mission to an asteroid and even the planet Mars.  As a child of the 1960’s, my thoughts returned to the words of former President John F. Kennedy.   

“Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.” John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962

Thinking big!  President Kennedy set the stage, cast the vision, and set the team, and country, in motion to get to the moon.  Less than seven years later on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon.  The following day, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on another planet.  A dream realized and a goal achieved. 

The space race spawned young and old alike to dream and plan for the impossible.  It set ablaze their imaginations and caused many to desire, think, and dream bigger.  To set their minds on achieving what was at the time impossible.  In numerous interviews the original cast of Star Trek details the hundreds of people who they have spoken to over the years that were so inspired by the television show that they pursued a career in science, technology, engineering and math. 

The impact of President John F. Kennedy’s speech unleashed a decade of possibility and he can be credited with pushing a generation to thinking, acting, and dreaming bigger! His actions and words set the tone at a national level that impacted individual households to start looking up from their day-to-day challenges to be captivated by the possibilities of what might lie beyond their communities, countries, and the stratosphere. 

Do you as a leader think, dream, and plan big?  What is the vision that you are casting that gets your team, company, and organization inspired?  Do you take the time to be intentional about these activities?  Your position as the leader should be one that includes pushing the boundaries of possibility. 

You have been given a unique position as a leader and your ability to communicate, inspire, and set your teams thoughts on what is possible, even when it sounds impossible, are actions that take a good workplace and transform it into a great workplace.  Employees are a company’s greatest asset.  Treating them well is expected.  Inspiring them to do, think, and achieve more is directly tied to the words and actions of the leadership. 

President Kennedy could have set his sites on just earthly ambitions in his 1962 speech. His desire as a leader helped propel an entire generation, and even in his death a year later, people still wanted to attain what he had challenged them to achieve.  As you set your sites on 2015, what are you going to challenge your workforce to achieve?  What impossible task is possible with their collective blood, sweat, and love? 

The sky is the limit and the moon is just beyond your reach.  “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Napoléon Hill

Literary Leadership

I remember as a teenager that I dreamed of becoming a writer.  In school it was one of those areas where I thrived academically.  Math and analytical thinking were not my strong suit, where creative writing and language arts kept my attention and allowed me to confidently express myself. 

With a teenage bent for science fiction and storytelling I created several short stories and made plans to compile them into a novel.  I crafted characters and narratives that took me away from my day-to-day existence, and found joy in utilizing my novice approach to literature in filling spiral bound notebooks on a weekly basis.  Where some students found success on the playing field, I found victories in creative writing and poetry. 

As a junior in high school I encountered a teacher who inspired my passion and her support pushed me forward.  Looking back now, I know the power of encouragement when someone expresses his or her belief in you.  As a leader today, I am looking

for that raw talent and opportunities where I can inspire others to reach their potential.

In college I continued my writing and regularly scored high marks on my papers. Only once did I score a B, and even today that disappointment is still with me.  No doubt I was over confident in my ability and the professor used that grade to get my attention to try harder.  It worked.  I pressed to improve my craft and often penned more stories in and out of school and took solace in writing. 

It was at a dear friends wedding when I was 25 that I embraced my disappointment.  I had a personal goal of being a published author at this age. Looking back, I hadn’t done the focused work, made the connections, nor refined my craft to achieve this milestone.  What I had done was feel the sting of disappointment that would later be the catalyst to my continued writing. 

Within the past few years I used my passion for writing to inspire my team. In leadership it is incumbent on a leader to find an avenue where he or she can share a vision, align the team, and inspire the workforce in the process.  What I chose to do weekly with my writing was to take elements of pop culture, world events, leadership, and customer service to tell a story to motivate my team.  It was in this weekly exercise where my passion for writing found a real voice.  

What I had missed at 25 was the fact that my potential as a writer wasn’t fully realized.  My boyhood dreams of literary success hadn’t found a voice until I was able to align my passion for leadership with writing to inspire others.  It is humorous to me that is was also 25 years later that I actually wrote, published, and held a book of my own in my hands. 

By biggest joy as a writer came in finding out that what I had written was a help to others.  It is one thing to write a book, and another to write a book that inspires someone else as a result.   

As I submitted the manuscript for Charter School Leadership: Elements for School Success, (http://tinyurl.com/CharterBook) I thought about those teachers, professionals, and colleagues that pushed me to reach my writing potential.  It is a lesson that I take with me even today.  Find those people in your sphere of influence and encourage them to reach for their dreams and fulfill their potential.  Many times as leaders we are required to help others push past their fear so they can achieve their personal best. 

So as a leader, whether you are a writer or not, what are you doing to inspire your team and others around you?  What steps are you taking to not only challenge yourself, but those within your industry?   Your passion for the work at hand should also include spreading that enthusiasm to others while positively contributing to the betterment of your workplace and community.