By Richard Croad, on July 26th, 2010
There are no shortcuts in life, but you can short-change yourself.
How?
By taking the ‘easy’ way out.
What I think smart busy people have realised is that it is as easy to work hard on the right things as it is hard when you to try to take things easy.
I confess, for me being idle is an horror too great.
Iwonder however whether a lot of our productivity is tied up in the misguided notion that being busy and productive is the hardest way to live your life.
Spending most of your woken day at a job where you produce nothing is just painful. I’ve been there. Anybody who believes that is a good way through life has already started making life difficult.
Of course I am not promoting being a slave to your work or just pulling long hours and never seeing your family. Work life balance is hugely important (and this includes ‘time out’)
My focus is on the 40- 50 hours you spend at work.
Make them count.
Make the hours of your employees count too.
I would rather send people home early because they did what was needed doing than keep them here in the hope they’ll ‘fill in time’.
I concede it is a difficult balance, but leaders should not be ashamed of expecting more of themselves and their employees in being more productive.
The thing is – and here is the kicker – I believe this often doesn’t happen as the managers concerned aren’t doing it themselves and therefor are not prepared to ask their reports (note I changed from leaders to managers, because I have just demoted them all!)
And this doesn’t just apply to being productive.
So the next time you see a manger not asking for more, see what they are not doing themselves first.
Then decide- am I a leader or a manager!!
By Richard Croad, on July 25th, 2010
How is it we can run and catch a ball without making complex mathematical calculations?
Well, inbuilt for most of us is a process called the gaze heuristic.
The gaze heuristic is a heuristic employed by people when trying to catch a ball. Experimental studies have shown that people do not act as though they were solving a system of differential equations that describe the forces acting on the ball while it is in the air and then run to the place at which the ball is predicted to hit the ground. Instead they fixate the ball with their eyes and move so as to keep the angle of the gaze either constant or within a certain range. Moving in such a fashion assures that the ball will hit the catcher.[1][2]
How is this relevant?
Several times people have mentioned or alluded to the basic premise leaders are born not bred. Certainly for much of my management career I have believed this.
Now I don’t.
Well not absolutely.
I think as a guide it stands, but I think it ignores two critical aspects:
Firstly even born leaders need to keep being bred – to learn new skills, to revisit things they knew before, and to keep learning what they didn’t know they needed to learn.
Secondly there are always leaders lurking who wouldn’t be classically picked as future leaders, and circumstance can mean they pull themselves through or someone or something else does.
I’ve harped on long enough in various guises about the first aspect. The second aspect though needs to be noted.
Leaders looking for, and at, leaders can’t afford to ignore those ‘not born as leaders’. They may about things quietly or lead with dogged determination – not the sort that barks everyone day and trumpets their glory (they are pretenders) – I mean the ones who have a belief in themselves and a self knowledge that they have plenty to learn if they wish to lead effectively. There are endless variations.
I typically observe these unheralded leaders as being either fearless or, at times, verging on what appears to be reckless ignorance. They are full of surprises.
My aim with this post is to speak out for those leaders ‘not born as leaders’, and to draw out some of your thoughts and experiences on this topic.
These ‘not born leaders’ support one of my belief’s that you can grown anybody into a pretty damn good leader.
And because ‘we’ don’t, perhaps that is why the old wives tale of born not bred has perpetuated.
References
- ^ “ScienceDirect – Psychology of Sport and Exercise : Fast and frugal heuristics in sports”. www.sciencedirect.com.
- ^ “Gut Feelings” (The Intelligence of the Unconscious) By Gerd Gigerenzer. Viking, 2007.
By Richard Croad, on July 23rd, 2010
I have somewhere in my files a parable that many of you will have either heard or heard variations of. I love it with a passion. I shall give you the highlights and then change the ending as I have known it.
Synopsis:
A struggling business man ( funnily I have always assumed middle aged of European . . . → Read More: The journey
By Richard Croad, on July 22nd, 2010
My background is manufacturing operations. Often we would encounter seemingly irresolvable problems, often with a myriad of choices and no clear path as to which to choose or choose first.
The standard approach to these matters include tools like Root Cause Analysis, Waterfall Charts and HACCP. Mostly these serve pretty well and in significant issues some . . . → Read More: An elegant solution
By Richard Croad, on July 21st, 2010
I own
I don’t own
This
My happiness
Your happiness
My smile
Your smile
My demeanour
Your demeanour
My grief
Your grief
My achievements
Your achievements
My failures
Your failures
My passion
Your passion
‘the company I keep’
‘the company you keep’
My joy
Your joy
My anger
Your anger
My procrastination
Your procrastination
My action
Your actions
My inaction
Your inaction
My learning
Your learning
My unlearning
Your unlearning
What I eat
What you eat
My love
Your love
Myself
My family
My health
Your health
My opinions
Your opinions
My beliefs
Your beliefs
My thoughts
Your thoughts
Because I own . . . → Read More: I own
By Richard Croad, on July 20th, 2010
Travelling recently reminded me very much about my post on “Where you belong”.
It is an odd thing to be in a business lounge in Dubai which is bigger than Wellington’s entire airport.
It brings home “them and us” and illustrates how many there are of both; though what determines who sits in each camp is . . . → Read More: I was taught by the woman who cleared my table
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