Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Tag: self-awareness

  • Listen In -> Good Leaders in Bad Times #1: The Solution Begins in the Mirror

    After a blistering five weeks of criticizing business and political leadership for the arrogant, blind, brainless, fear-based, power-obsessed, insecure excuse for leadership they have provided in response to our economic crisis, we turn our attention in this next series to proposing a constructive alternative.

    Hence our title, Good Leaders in Bad Times. It’s difficult to discern quality leadership in good times, because almost anything everyone does seems to work out okay when the economy is cycling upward.

    But when the economy slows down, declines, or collapses, we discover who is all smoke and mirrors, and who is substance.

    Here in week one, Claudia and I suggest that effective leadership in bad times begins with a good look in the mirror.

    How might you be a part of the problem? Have you considered the question before?

    Good leaders in bad times know that what others do and how others show up flows out from who they are and how they show up. In other words, if there is going to be change, it must begin with you.

    Listen in and tell us what you think.

    Then come back each week for what promises to be a thought-provoking and challenging series!

    Good Leaders in Bad Times
    Week 1: The Solution Begins in the Mirror
    Week 2: The Issues Behind the Problems
    Week 3: Training People to be Better Than You
    Week 4: Reporting To Your Team
    Week 5: Creating a Culture That Get Results

    Listen in.

  • Question of the Week #5

    Who would benefit from you verbalizing your appreciation today?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • Quote to Consider: The Adventure is You

    quote-to-consider“Rebellion against your handicaps gets you nowhere. Self-pity gets you nowhere. One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world—making the most of one’s best.”

    Harry Emerson Fosdick

  • Quote to Consider: Where Change is Needed Most

    quote-to-consider“Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

    Leo Tolstoy

  • Question of the Week

    What is your optimum attention span for focused effort? For reading? For listening? For conversation?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • Thought Leaders Unpacked: Integrity by Henry Cloud

    Integrity, by Henry CloudGiven that denial is one of my favorite coping mechanisms, it might seem odd that I would ever pick up a book about meeting “the demands of reality.”

    But here I am. Again.

    I feel like I’ve been wrestling with this book, Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality, since it first came out in 2006. It seems that when learning needs to go deeper than simply acquiring new competencies, that time (read years) and practice (read many mistakes) are involved.

    Hence the rationale for working through this challenging piece together here on “Thought Leaders Unpacked.”

    For many of us there is an unnoticed disconnect between our job performance and our self-understanding. When we think about work, we think about the tasks, responsibilities, goals, processes, and deadlines involved. We don’t have tools for considering how we ourselves might be a part of the problems we are trying to address.

    When thinking about ways to help our employees work harder and smarter, we seldom include our own behavior in the mix of factors contributing to their shortcomings, challenges, or motivation levels.

    A mirror and a map. Where can we find a mirror that will help us take a look at ourselves? What maps are available to help us navigate a more centered, realistic approach to developing our own character at work?

    Join me in conversation each week as I post my reflections on one chapter of Integrity. There is no learning like learning from each other.

    Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality

    • Introduction: Why Integrity Matters
    • Character Dimension 1: Establishing Trust
    • Character Dimension 2: Oriented Toward Truth
    • Character Dimension 3: Getting Results
    • Character Dimension 4: Embracing the Negative
    • Character Dimension 5: Oriented toward Increase
    • Character Dimension 6: Oriented Toward Transcendence

    Forward this post to someone you think would benefit from our discussion. Every voice matters.

    Each Friday I post my reflections from one chapter of Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality by Henry Cloud.

  • Question of the Week

    How are the people around you affected for good and ill when you come under pressure?

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.

  • Loving Monday: Mirror Mirror on the Wall

    loving_mondaySome situations seem so clear.

    The obstructionist assistant who is resisting any new projects… again. The abrupt, if not rude, manner in which the sales manager walked off while you were mid-sentence. The tendency of the production team to cover up mistakes until it is too late.

    Another Monday for you to step in and address what you see in order to get the week off to a good start.

    But what if you were looking in the wrong place? What if, before looking at everyone else, you looked at yourself?

    Would it make a difference?

    What if the assistant resisted new projects because you were overloading him without providing any additional resources?

    What if the sales manager walked off because you weren’t listening to anything she had to say?

    What if the production team covers up their mistakes because it isn’t safe to make mistakes on your team, and they felt their jobs were at risk?

    What if you looked in the mirror first thing every Monday?

    What if others showed up at work the way they do in partial reaction to how you are showing up?

    The good news is that you have direct control over how you choose to show up at work, making change immediately possible.

    Mirror, mirror on the wall… Who might serve as a safe and trustworthy mirror for you to get some information about the impact you have on others?

    On your side,

    – Karl

  • Loving Monday: Bouncing Back Stronger

    The unexpected can knock us for a loop. We’re ready to make a great week for ourselves, and then, Wham!… out of nowhere and before we know what happened we find ourselves reeling.

    A deadline change, additional workload, a missing co-worker, technology down, office politics. The unexpected can take many forms.

    How do we bounce back when we get the wind knocked out of us?

    As important as it is to your busy schedule to get moving as soon as possible, to jump right back into your original plans as if nothing had happened would actually result in a bigger setback.

    Your best bet is to give yourself some space. Some space simply to acknowledge that you’ve been thrown for a loop. Take a walk. Get some air. Kick the tires of your car. Express the maddening frustration of going from the gravity-defying launch of a great week to the quicksand engulfing suffocation of yet another setback.

    Validating and venting the emotion will enable you to more quickly release it. Instead of squashing the feelings that are about to sabotage your week, you find a safe way to express them. (Who cares what the passing motorists think as they pass you waving your arms wildly and ranting to the air on your walk around the block.)

    Take a few deep breaths as you return to your office, and you’ll be in a much stronger position to make the necessary adjustments occasioned by whatever unexpected event interrupted your morning.

    You’ve got an important contribution to make this week. We need you to show up fully engaged. For your sake and ours, let’s find ways to build your repertoire of tools for bouncing back stronger.

    On  your side,

    – Karl

  • Question of the Week

    Why does the magnitude of his or her reaction seem so out of proportion to the circumstance? (Important clues to your response lie here.)

    The Question of the Week is offered to increase awareness of one’s personal leadership practices and encourage experimentation with creative alternatives.