Leader, or Lone Nut?
My friend Katie Todd recently sent me this terrific video of a goofy guy dancing his heart out at a concert. At first, people seem to be avoiding him. Until one by one, and then in droves, people begin to join in.
In a brilliant voiceover, Derek Sivers points out what there is to learn about leadership from this event: Be willing to stand alone and look ridiculous. It’s not about you, it’s about the movement. Create community. Be public. Leadership is over-glorified. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. Watch:
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Leadership is Dangerous
Leadership is Dangerous
Imagine you’re in charge of marketing for your organization. And you come up with a brilliant idea: let’s get people to buy LESS of our product!
What a minute – what!?! Seriously? You’d be fired. …Wouldn’t you?
Not necessarily.
A week ago a friend of mine forwarded an inspiring message that began like this:
Today is Cyber Monday. It will likely be the biggest online shopping day ever. Cyber Monday was created by the National Retail Federation in 2005 to focus media and public attention on online shopping. But Cyber Monday, and the culture of consumption it reflects, puts the economy of natural systems that support all life firmly in the red. We’re now using the resources of one-and-a-half planets on our one and only planet.
Because Patagonia wants to be in business for a good long time – and leave a world inhabitable for our kids – we want to do the opposite of every other business today. We ask you to buy less and to reflect before you spend a dime on this jacket or anything else.
Environmental bankruptcy, as with corporate bankruptcy, can happen very slowly, then all of a sudden. This is what we face unless we slow down, then reverse the damage. We’re running short on fresh water, topsoil, fisheries, wetlands – all our planet’s natural systems and resources that support business, and life, including our own.
The email goes on to detail the environmental costs of one of Patagonia’s popular jackets: enough water for the daily needs of 45 people. 24 times the weight of the jacket in carbon emissions. And that’s for a jacket made of 60% recycled material.
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Relax, The Pressure’s On
There’s So Much To Do, I Can Hardly Breathe!
A few weeks ago a client came to me with tears in her eyes. “I need your help,” she said. “I’m just so overwhelmed. I know I need to say no to some things, but honestly I just feel like I can’t. Help!”
I could feel the desperation behind her words. This particular client has a job that keeps her constantly on the run. Her role requires her to be super-responsive… as do her young kids, her aging parents, and her volunteer commitments. She’s so busy she barely has space to breathe.
I mean that quite literally. Her normal, everyday way of breathing is a short pant. Her shoulders shrug up around her ears as if she’s shouldering a great burden. This makes it hard for her to get a full breath. (Try it yourself – lift up your shoulders and see how it affects your breathing.) At times she has a look of panic in her eyes. Inhabiting her body this way affected the way she was responding to the overwhelm.
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Notes on Conversational Turbulence
From Chicago to Portland, by Way of a Wicked Summer Storm
Last week I was on a very turbulent flight that nearly knocked us out of the sky. It was the kind of flight where the pilots offered frequent updates that walked the fine line between honest and reassuring, the flight attendants cracked weak jokes meant to put us at ease, and nearly everybody felt queasy, nervous, and afraid. As for me, I gripped the armrests til my hands hurt, moaned under my breath at each free-fall, and thought of the ones I love.
That is, until I remembered my feet.
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Authenticity Is The Currency Of Trust
Trust isn’t a soft skill, it’s a hard skill. With it, great things can be accomplished. Without it, nothing gets done.
If you’re trying to create change of any kind – whether it’s changing the world or changing your accounting system – you’re going to need people to align with your vision. How do you build the kind of trust that allows that to happen?
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