Approximate Proximity
What is the approximate proximity that leaders should operate from? Am I too close to the people, or too far from them? This is a great question for leaders to constantly wrestle with. Approximate Proximity I was having a good conversation with one of our high performing leaders this week when this concept came up. They were struggling with the side of the question about being too far from the people. This particular leader is far from distance. They were not giving themselves enough grace. Even if their proximity had drifted due to demands, chaos, and crisis, it surely wasn’t intentional. This conversation made me think, “What is
Are You A Leader?
Are you a leader? Most likely, if you’re honest with yourself, you really don’t know. Because if you have never encountered serious crisis involving yourself and people for whom you are responsible, and come through it with three things intact, you really have no idea if you have what it takes. Then, and only then, do you know you have what it takes to lead. Now, there are steps you can take to improve the probability that you can cope. And these steps are all attitudinal. They can’t be taught, but they can be “understood.” You begin by understanding yourself and your attitudes. These attitudes are highly interdependent
The Day After
How will your life be impacted the day after the election? The answer to this question will be grounded in pure emotion. If your candidate loses, you will likely feel devastated, denied, and discouraged. If your candidate wins, you will likely feel ecstatic, elated, and encouraged. Some win, some lose. Here is what I know. Wednesday morning, our lives will move forward. They will move forward in the community where we live, work, and play. A space and a place where we have the opportunity to make a difference. Day in and day out. Leadership and Main Oddly enough, the 200th post comes one day before our
The Enemies of Empathy
There are enemies of empathy that lurk within each of us. They lie deep within all of us and can significantly impede our ability to connect with other human beings. Most people could not articulate the difference between the words sympathy and empathy. While they align in some ways, there are a few degrees of separation that drastically change the intended impacts of their use. Sympathy vs Empathy I have always believed that sympathy is when we have actually walked in someone else’s shoes. We can connect with them based on shared physical and emotional experiences in life. Connecting on that level is instantaneous and requires minimal effort
Kindness Always Wins
Kindness always wins. Twice a year we bring in a speaker to spend time with our customer facing team members at the city. This time, my friend and pastor Mike Linch delivered the message. Mike has had a profound influence on my journey in both life and leadership. He exemplifies kindness. I had intended to make some opening comments, introduce Mike, and get back over to City Hall for a meeting I needed to be at. Thankfully, I was able to push the meeting back so that I could sit in for the majority of his talk. My biggest takeaway from his presentation…“kindness always wins.” Simple, yet memorable.
All In A Day’s Work
We can easily underestimate what we can accomplish in a day’s work. Often, we focus on the limitations of the day, not the possibilities of it. Our heads are filled with reminders about how quickly time passes, not the potential to fend off the hands of time for just one day. A Day’s Work Earlier last week, I received a call from the mother of a former football player of mine. Mrs. Rose, who all of us at the ballpark affectionately referred to her as, asked if my son Grant and I would be interested in traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee to see her son Joshua play football on
Staying On Offense
Staying on offense is a winning strategy in both football and leadership. In football, the team with more time of possession has a greater opportunity to win the game. In leadership, staying on offense is a winning game plan as well. Staying On Offense I spent twenty-one years of my adult life coaching youth football. I was the head coach, but was also responsible for Calling Plays. As a coaching staff, we understood that the more we were on offense, the less the other team was. It was a pretty simple strategy, especially when the other team had a high-powered offense. In the spirit of the football
Preparing for the Worst
The Southeast United States spent last week preparing for the worst. Hurricane Helene started to form in the Gulf of Mexico early in the week. Its formation initiated the exercise of preparedness by residents, communities, and all levels of government. Preparing for the Worst The exercise was no different in Acworth, Georgia. As the forecast started to solidify Tuesday, most models showed the eye of the storm going right through us. In talking with one of our leaders, we decided to move our scheduled preparedness briefing up from Thursday afternoon to Wednesday morning in anticipation. The briefing was an opportunity for each department to showcase their preparedness. We
Too Connected
How often are we too connected to things that don’t matter? More importantly how often are we too connected to the things that matter most? It is the great struggle of imbalance each one of us face today. The scales constantly teeter from one side to the other. In Georgia, this time of year means Fall Break. It’s everyone’s last chance to enjoy summer temperatures before the coolness of fall creeps in. For most, that means “disconnecting.” Disconnecting from the distractions of life. The things that separate what we ARE too connected to from the things that we SHOULD BE too connected to. In life and leadership, there
Limited Vision
In life, some people have great vision, some have limited vision. In leadership, vision is the ability to see further. Great leaders have this ability. The best leaders have the ability to inspire those they lead to run towards that vision without the ability to see the final destination. It is not limited. Miracle on Ice We generally kick off our team meetings at work with a leadership video. It could be something as simple as a speech, leadership lecture, inspirational story, or a movie clip. This past Friday, we led a meeting off with a clip from the movie Miracle. It’s the story of the 1980 United