Smart leaders know how to use deep conversations to allow others to be heard and influence behaviors. Deep conversations can also be used to clarify intentions, create bonds, or convince your board that you have a creative way to tackle business challenges. My favorite deep conversations are those in which I can exchange ideas and create breakthroughs, even if they feel uncomfortable.
For a moment: forget any schooling, corporate training, sacrifice, and all of what brought you to where you are today as a leader.
Have you ever just sat for a moment and thought about how lucky you are to even be on this Earth? It’s crazy to think about, but the odds of your unique blend of DNA even existing is less than winning the lottery while being struck by lightning!
The great leaders of our time have had the ability to get a populace enthused about the future, but our great leaders have rarely come from the corporate world. It’s because emphasis hasn’t been placed on the development of strategic narratives until recently. On the flip side, statistics show those companies with strong narratives – Starbucks, Alcoa, Walmart – have the most engaged employees. The difference between a merely satisfied and a fully engaged employee? As it turns out, 100%. You can’t do much better than that.
I used to set lofty goals for myself and my team and more often than not, fail miserably. Sometimes, I even forgot about them only a few months after having had what I thought was a successful goal-setting process. But why? Because what I was doing was more dreaming than anything else. Humans are generally…