The Leader Factor

In this week's episode of Culture by Design, Tim and Junior explain The Ladder of Vulnerability. We all experience vulnerability at work differently, and you have a ladder of vulnerability that's unique to you. This episode, and the online resources available to accompany it, will make it easier for you to talk about vulnerability at work. With these tools, you can change the conversation around vulnerability by providing a more practical, data-driven approach.

Human interaction is a vulnerable activity. (02:25) If you’re interacting with other humans, you’re at risk of harm or loss. But the same exposure that brings the possibilities of rejection, ridicule, and embarrassment also brings the possibilities of connection and fulfillment. 

Not all vulnerability is equal. (17:01) Tim and Junior explain The Ladder of Vulnerability self-assessment, where, applying an 11-point scale, LeaderFactor surveyed over 3000 people from over 800 organizations throughout the world to measure the relative risk associated with the 20 selected behaviors.

Leaders don't adequately understand vulnerability. (41:42) In order to encourage vulnerability in the workplace, leaders have to both model it and reward it with those they work with. 

The LIVE Model (43:25). Tim and Junior discuss the four steps to rewarding vulnerability: 

1. Look
2. Identify
3. Validate
4. Encourage

Links:
Take The Ladder of Vulnerability Self-Assessment
Download the free guide

Today's lesson:
Become an Agile, Self-directed Learner

Key Points:
The biggest barrier to learning today is not access, it’s motivation. Many individuals stop learning when they get out of school or they don’t have outside requirements, external expectations, or a structured learning environment. Many people stop learning even though it’s an innate need and desire. The solution? Make learning completely your responsibility and avoid learning welfare like the plague.

Today's key action:
Identify an area of your professional life that you feel would benefit from some deliberate, aggressive, self-directed learning. And then book a 20 minute slot on your calendar within the next two days to do some intentional learning.

In this episode of Culture by Design, we're finishing up our Character and Competence series with the final episode. And if you've been with us each week, thank you. This has been an impactful few weeks where we've discussed topics including integrity, humility, accountability, courage, learning, change, judgment, and finally today, we cover the fourth cornerstone of competence, vision. Tim and Junior will discuss, vision is to see what does not exist, to see what others cannot see, and to see potential and possibility in yourself, in others, and in the organization. 

What is vision? (03:16) Vision is another differentiator between leaders and managers, and great leaders have two kinds of vision for two units of performance: the individual and the organization. But vision isn't made up of dreams, you have to take note of your wanting/willing ratio.

‍

Vision helps you survive (17:24) Inevitably, disaster will strike. Vision helps pull us through when we face uncertainty. Uncertainty paired with the vision that can pull us forward and create some mobilization.

‍

Vision precedes creativity (20:37) Tim and Junior explain that vision begins the creative process. Creating a vision is creating a conception of the future and defining a goal. Leaders need to enable independence in their people before they can enable creativity.

‍

Creating a vision (32:01) Our hosts delve into how to create, simplify, communicate, embody, and endure your vision. 

This is a LeaderFactor Single Point Lesson. These 10-minute episodes are packed with practical learning on a single topic. These episodes will be published in addition to our regular full-length episodes every Monday.

Today's lesson:
Leadership makes it harder to get to reality.

Key Points:
When you step into a formal leadership role, you face a built-in obstacle: you have to work harder to stay in reality. Why? Because now there’s a power differential. Honesty and candor comes with risk; it can be dangerous. You get less feedback and it’s filtered. In addition, leaders often develop a tendency to focus inwardly. Welcome to the reality distortion field. What's the solution? An open door policy will never work. That’s passive. The solution is to go get reality by soliciting feedback, being accessible, and rewarding the feedback when it comes.

Today's key action:
Go solicit feedback from those who have local knowledge regarding an issue you’re currently working on. 

In this week's episode of Culture by Design, Tim and Junior dive into the penultimate episode of their series, Leading With Character and Competence, with a discussion on judgment. If decisions are the primary output of any leader, then improving decision-making is a crucial part of becoming a better leader. The two define and frame the concept, and then share practical ways to improve judgment as a learnable skill. 

Judgment diagnostic questions (04:45). Tim asks listeners a few questions to gauge where they're at with their judgment abilities. The first one? Would you say that you're a good decision-maker? 

Judgment, systems thinking, and searchlight intelligence (14:16). Junior brings up analysis paralysis and the components of good judgment, including good information.

Tackling adaptive challenges with good judgment (27:54). The faster you can identify adaptive challenges, the better your judgment will be. What are the opportunities, threats, and crises facing your organization?

Judgment and delegation (46:47). Do you use your judgment to multiply force and accelerate the development of people around you? Can you resist the arrogance and overconfidence that comes with success?

This is our first LeaderFactor Single Point Lesson. These 10-minute episodes are packed with practical learning on a single topic. These episodes will be published in addition to our regular full-length episodes every Monday.

Today's lesson:
You will grow based on what you demand of yourself.

Key Points:
As humans, it is natural for us to seek comfort and equilibrium, but equilibrium leads to mediocrity. In the end, mediocrity will deny you the opportunity to discover who you really are and who you can become. What's the answer? Demand more of yourself. Don’t wait for your environment to demand more of you because it might not. Embrace discomfort (but not to your panic zone) and recognize that there has never been a time of significant progression that wasn't characterized by discomfort.

Today's key action:
Write down an area of your life that's falling or has fallen into equilibrium in which you should demand more of yourself. Then go and do whatever might be appropriate to improve

In this episode, we're continuing our Leading with Character and Competence series with a discussion on the second cornerstone of competence, change. Previous episodes in this series have been on the four cornerstones of character, which in case you missed them, are integrity, humility, accountability, and courage. In order to become an effective leader and become what we would truly consider competent, you have to become skilled at adapting to change yourself and leading others through change. Tim and Junior talk about facing change as an individual and as a leader, as well as the two failure patterns that organizations face when running change initiatives. 

What is change? (0:03:15) Change always requires the performance of additional work and the absorption of additional stress. It's a gateway competency in the 21st century. Sometimes we choose it, and sometimes it chooses us. 

What is resilience? (0:09:38) In order to become an effective leader and become what we would truly consider competent, you have to become skilled at adapting to change yourself and leading others through change. And in order to manage change at the individual level, we have to be resilient. 

Tackling organizational change (0:23:51) Tim and Junior discuss the two domains of change, personal and organizational. They explain the cocktail of confidence, adaptability, and optimism. 

Applying confidence, optimism, and gratitude (0:28:56) How do these three apply to relationships, renewal, learning, contribution, achievement, and purpose?

Two change failure patterns (0:40:35) You can't muscle or smuggle change. When we smuggle, we try to hide the fact that we're changing from people, to bring it into the organization and conceal it, cover it up, bring it in as a covert action, minimize it. When we muscle change, we use formal authority and positional power to force change. Neither yield promising results. 

In this episode of Culture by Design, we're entering the second half of our Leading with Character and Competence series with a discussion on the first cornerstone of competence, learning. Tim and Junior discuss what it means to be an agile self­-directed learner, why it's important to learn at or above the speed of change, and how to keep yourself competitive and relevant in an increasingly fast-­paced, changing environment.

Character vs. Competence (0:01:21). If character is the infrastructure, competence is the superstructure. Tim and Junior introduce the next four episodes of this series, all of which will focus on how listeners can develop and improve their levels of competence.

The perishability of knowledge (0:05:08). We live in a different world than it was just a couple of years ago. Things are changing quickly, and the perishability of knowledge and information are accelerating. Tim and Junior discuss how the linear nature of a career has been disrupted.

The desire for stability and job security (0:13:13). Through a story about union negotiation, Tim illustrates the human need for stability, and how our concept of stability has changed over time. We're no longer looking for a role that'll last us decades, we're looking for one that'll grow with us.

The three types of learning (0:15:00). There are three types of learning: permanent, continuous, and agile. Permanent learning is based on permanent qualification, continuous learning is ongoing qualification, and agile learning is rapid, collaborative, self-­directed learning at the moment of need.

Formal vs. informal learning (0:22:03). Eventually, we graduate from opportunities and environments where we learn formally. This means we have to be proactive in creating and seeking out places and times to learn informally. Junior shares four self-reflection questions to help listeners assess their current impact on their learning.

Encouraging learning in leadership (0:24:17). If you're a leader, people are watching you. They're watching how you interact with others, how you perform, and how you learn. If you can lead by example, you'll increase the learning agility of your team because you're creating that prevailing norm on your team.

Reading for curation and pattern recognition (0:39:30). Tim and Junior share their advice on how to maximize what you read, plus a small discussion on Tim's most recent Harvard Business Review article, How to Read a Business Book.

Links
How to Read a Business Book (HBR)

In this episode of Culture by Design, Tim and Junior talk about courage as a leadership trait. Courage is a characteristic you need if you want to take risks, innovate, and progress. It's the biggest difference between managers and leaders. This episode is full of practical advice on developing courage, including embracing reality, deep listening, and aiming high. 

(0:02:38) Management vs. Leadership, what’s the difference? The risk profile of leadership as an applied discipline is quite a bit different than the risk profile of management. Why is leadership higher risk? Because leaders venture farther into the unknown than managers do. And it takes courage to explore, to disrupt, and to create.

(0:15:29) What is your leadership-to-management ratio? As disciplines, leadership and management complement and yet compete with each other. They’re interdependent but not interchangeable. They represent different roles, but not different people.

(0:28:54) Creativity requires courage. If innovation is about deviation and disrupting the status quo, then creativity is part of that process. But luckily, courage, like creativity, is a learnable skill. 

(0:35:11) Tim and Junior share four ways to increase courage. (1) Listen, (2) change before it becomes obvious, (3) embrace reality, (4) aim high. 

In today's episode, Tim and Junior continue the "Leading with Character and Competence" series by discussing the third cornerstone of character: accountability. Great leaders love accountability. They are not afraid of transparency and take ownership of their actions and outcomes. Their high levels of accountability help them avoid blame, denial, or excuses.

(02:30) Tim and Junior describe accountability through stories. The opposite of accountability is irresponsibility, which involves shedding accountability and entitlement.

(15:24) Leadership is not just about total transparency; accountability must be internal, not only forced externally. "And that all goes back to how much accountability you are going to take for yourself. Is it intrinsic? Or are you waiting for the control systems around you to keep you in line?"

(21:43) Tim and Junior share ways to improve accountability, including finishing what you start. "Urgency is a catalyst, but seldom a sustainer. It doesn't keep you going over the long haul. So you have to find some other source of motivation." They also emphasize avoiding short-term thinking, stating, "All the significant and good things I can think of, whether in an organization or in personal life, come from short-term sacrifice, not short-term gratification."

(27:45) Be intentional about the values for which you hold yourself accountable. "If you're not explicit about the principles to which you're accountable, then you're only accountable to your own self-interest."

(34:52) Accountability improves confidence. "The more accountable you are over a longer period of time, the more confidence you can have in yourself that you'll be able to do what you say you're going to do."

(37:28) Tim shares a story about entitlement using turkeys as an example. Entitlement is on the opposite end of the accountability spectrum. Organizations need to understand that "that which is consistently given is consistently expected." Individuals should also be mindful of this type of entitlement in themselves.

(40:28) Let achievement be its own reward. "Why are you doing what you're doing? Is it for others? Is the accountability to your goal externally driven? Are you doing it for fame, glory, and money? What can you do to shift that accountability to yourself?"

(44:55) Accountability to higher ideals lasts a lifetime. "Accountability to integrity as an ideal lives longer than you. It's an aspiration that you can have for a lifetime. Accountability to improvement, accountability to compassion, accountability to whatever ideal you choose."

Important Links
Leading with Character and Competence: Moving Beyond Title, Position, and Authority