Labrador Leadership

Bob and Alex hit the road to recovery after talking in episode 20 about how debilitating stress can be.  Managing stress is a key skill in the leadership portfolio.

Bob makes the case that a little stress is needed and very productive in the workplace.  A goal or a deadline does start your drive and your creativity to working to meet your goal.  If it gets too high, you get tired, and if it gets really high to just totally burn out.

We all need to have skills that help us alleviate stress.  Alex says that she walks along the East River, not only to get fresh air, not only to get some exercise, but to get to the dog park to look at puppies!  This is a routine for her that helps her manage midday stress.

Bob says that people work in buildings that have a deep basement have a battle fighting the stress.  He contends that a window makes a great deal of difference.  You can also do something with your work place.  Music and bright desk accessories and supplies and a bright note.  Plants and pictures are a great improvement.  And finally keeping clean and organized can be an uplift.

If you are in an open area, interruptions are a problem.  Just getting up to stretch and walking to see someone in another department will help clear the mind.

Bob says he has been distracted by email notification.  There is always something on your desktop blinking or chiming as if to say, "hey, me! I need some attention."  Focus can take a real hit here.

Leaders taking a walk late in the day and just asking people what they are working on and how they are doing is engaging for them and a learning experience for you.

 

 

Bob talks about the three books has read that impacted his leadership skills and what you can learn from them.  He also invites listeners to join him in the lab to talk about what is coming soon!

Bob and Alex finish up the First Fifty by focusing on the important of mood.  They recall the dumps they put themselves in when talking about stress and realize that the start of the day has a lot to do with the mood you take forward.

Alex shares what her day looks like when she is on the air.  She gives herself an hour between getting up and catching the train. Now that she has a puppy, she has a trigger to get up and take the dog outside,  She gets back, feeds the dog and gets ready to go. She takes the G, M, and 6 trains, listening to podcasts along the way,  to get to work at 9.  The baristas at the Starbucks in the first floor of her building know what her order is and when to expect her.

When she gets to her desk, she says there may be some craziness on a busy week.  The first task almost always is to check her email.

Bob says the early AM hours are prime time to him.  He will get his own puppy out for business, get Jacquie out the door, and then get to work for anything that requires prime creativity. Only after that does the mail get the first look.  On recording days, he trues to take care of his voice (no lecturing or yelling?) so that in the studio he has a better chance of sounding ok.

Alex confesses to being a little bit of a night owl when doing creative work.  Bob says he gets an energy surge at about 8pm and he is productive then, but he guards against having to stay up too late into the night.

Alex shared a Huffington Post graphic that shows how many people are doing different activities at a give time of the day.

Dr. Bob Nolley welcomes Richard Rierson from the Dose of Leadership Podcast.  Richard looks at leadership from the perspectives of his careers in the corporate world and as a commercial airline pilot and a Marine. The two talk passionately about the "Four C's of Leadership" and how they permeate every aspect of our lives.

Bob and Alex talk about the fact that in spite of all of our intentions and efforts focussed on becoming a better leader, sometimes we want to improve our financial gains.  The path to that goal is simpler and less daunting than you may think.

The first piece of advice is to spend less.  Even though you may think you have done all the belt tightening you can manage,

After that, the big piece of advice is to work harder.  This seems no easier than spend less, because we start by thinking we have to spend more hours.  What it really calls for their is a devoted effort, an effort that leads to a sense of accomplishment.  When you can achieve this sense of accomplishment,  it usually comes from bringing your A game, free of distractions of too much social media and aimless chatting.  Bob calls it being enamored with the "possibility of the outcome".

If you need a stick to get  to this point, set a deadline.  This is not one of everyone on your team, but just for you.

To get to the point where these are effective for you, you have to being a true enthusiasm.  "Enthusiasm", says Bob, quoting Robert DeNiro in "The Untouchables".   When you generate this enthusiasm, your positivity will generate higher quality relationships with co-workers that will create an environment in which people will want to work with and for you.

Find work that fits your own strengths. Assign tasks to members of your team that fit their own strengths.  You are probably not serving your team well if you are over committed to developing their weaknesses.

Become an expert in something.  Expertise in some narrow niche can make your nearly indispensable in your organization.  This is more than just learning a lot through osmosis from working there a long period of time.  It is more about wanting to go out and learn more

In the end, all of these actions put you in a better position to ask for a raise.

John Treace's article on learning more money is here.

Brendon Burchard's The Millionaire Messenger.

 

 

Joel Boggess and his wife Dr. Pei Kang host The Relaunch Show, so named because it is a phase that people go through, after they have gone through different challenges. The story of their businesses, relationships, and their early failures is resonating with the listeners. Bob makes the point that people today are craving such real relationships. To relaunch you have to have resources (surround yourself with the best books and podcasts), relationships (the people that know you, like you, and are willing to help you), and routines (the rituals that make you sharpen your skills and be successful).

Bob recounts to Alex his prescription for the five things that students have to remember to do as well as they can in school.  One of them is the late Stephen Covey's concept of the Big Rocks.  Bob describes a great demonstration of the Big Rocks and ties it into the importance of the priorities you set daily.

Attention spans have gotten much shorter since the Baby Boomers appeared on the scene.  Because of this, we need to pay special attention to channel richness and the model of communication that we use.  This includes the sender forward encoding the message, choosing the channel, sending into the medium, to be unencoded by the listener.  The channel that gets used can vary in richness from the very un-rich data report up to a memo then an email then a phone call then a face to face conversations.  Four different generations are in the work place together, collaborating,   working, communicating with one another.

I Love Lucy, Cheers, and Family Guy average scene length is 38 seconds.  I Love Lucy had about five big scenes a program.  Modern Family has 33 scenes in the show. Research reveals we now have attention spans shorter than that of a goldfish.

So what strategies do we have in place to deal with this?  Keep written communication brief.  Keep oral communication to the point. Make sure your slide decks are filled with images and verbal hooks like alliteration.

Dave Yarin's article can be read here.

Dave Yarin is a compliance and risk management consultant, and he shares a story of how good leaders can make horrible mistakes by ignoring the warning signs, and what they can do to prevent these mistakes.

Bob talks about Quora and his venture through what he calls "Facebook for the intelligentsia".  The discussion centers around things he saw there included a discussion around the best things you can do on the first ninety days on the job.  First impressions are important, but there are strategies you can take before you ever get to day one.

Alex talks about her new jobs. On day one she always was there early and as ready as she thought you could be.  She recalls a feeling of playing it safe, but she always went in trying to make sure her work ethic is evident.  Bob concurs with all of this recognizing the emotional labor it takes to establish great relationships right from the start.

Bob also suggests to continue your habits from your job search.  Do a deeper dive on the research on the company, and reach out to anyone you know at the company for a lunch or coffee to find out what's going on and what success looks like at the new job. You can also do a deeper research on the competitors if appropriate so that so you are in a much better position to add value during the early days.

The bottom line is all about being able to make a contribution as soon as you can.  Start making relationships early, thinking about the long tail effects of how that may positively effect you at the end of the year.

You can start exploring Quora here.