Thrown under the bus by a colleague?

Many of my clients this week and last have reported challenges with co-workers. I thought it was time to refer to those gurus of leadership, the folks in the Leadership Dept. at the Naval Academy.

There have been many who have written about Naval Leadership, but few have made it accessible to corporate America. One of the few, is Brad Johnson, who is a professor in the Leadership, Ethics, and Law Dept. at the Academy.

In his book, Becoming a Leader the Annapolis Way, Brad (who, in full disclosure, is one of my former professors at Johns Hopkins) writes about the 12 essentials for leadership and does a remarkable job in the Chapter entitled, “Shipmates First.” Here is an excerpt from that...

“Never bilge a shipmate...p.134

Not only is an Academy midshipmen bound to keep track of his or her shipmates, there is also a clear prohibition against doing anything to take advantage of, get one over on, or bring a shipmate to the attention of superiors in a negative way. Such behavior is considered “bilging a shipmate” and it is ardently avoided. One can also bilge a shipmate by neglecting to provide important information or by failing to help a shipmate correct an obvious problem before it comes to the attention of an officer or upperclassman.”

Conclusion of the chapter, p.141...

“Leaders have an obligation to their shipmates. Excellent leaders see themselves as servants of their people. Part of serving through leadership is acceptance of the obligation to sacrifice for others. This is the burden of command...Nonetheless, the most mature and successful leaders manage to reframe this obligation as opportunity....”

The burden of leadership is also its opportunity. No matter how many times you have been thrown under the bus by a colleague, it is never the highest best choice of a fine leader to reciprocate.

There's change afoot!

Change Everything.ca

The website, www.changeeverything.ca, is a powerful expression of the force of ideas.  Take this video for instance.  Someone jumped on the idea of paying it forward, and applied it to transportation.  Bikes, specifically.  The idea is simple, ride the bike to your destination, and then pass it along.

I can hear the naysayers, "huh?"  How will you get back again? How will this be reliable? Etc. 

I don't know.  And I'm okay with that.  Let's just see what happens next.  I love this old expression, "If you're pointed in the right direction, just keeping walking."  Or in this case, rolling!

Are we going to let the Canadians be the only ones with a change everything website? In the very least case, Seattle? Whatcha got?

If you're looking for ideas go to Seth Godin's blog.  He's got a pretty good list to get you started.

Are we human?

Always cool, my sister Meghan, 24 and a nurse in Philadelphia, keeps me current on music, fashion, and technology.  She was listening to a song when I was home recently, and once I heard the whole track, I fell instantly and hopeless in love. Here it is from their live performance in San Jose, the first full minute is their intro, but stick with it - you won't be able to avoid tapping your feet, or doing the 'happy chair dance'!

The Killers, "Human" from Morgan Lam on Vimeo.

The Mondragon Model

Have you heard of it?  How about Dee Hock and Visa?

Funny thing about both of these, they will be recognized as our new economic model within 5 years.  And they've been around for decades.

Dee Hock's ideas about corporate structure have come to symbolize a somewhat eccentric but  successful 'exception' to the for-profit structures we are mired in.  There are very few examples of people following in his footsteps, but there are some.  REI, for one.  A cooperative.  Nav Canada, a trust.  And now, new, on the web, www.dibspace.com.

What could happen if we could preserve the very best of capitalism, and embed it in a new structure that decentralizes power and authority and that takes the ego out of commerce?  What could that look like?

If you'd like to read more about these, shoot me an email.  I'll send you a few articles that I've passed to my executive coaching clients.

Still my favorite!

My work with executives and managers is dedicated almost entirely to empowering these amazing individuals, ennobling them to make the changes needed to move us all forward, whether that forward motion is in their companies, communities, or in this country and in the broader context. Sometimes that requires a slightly different approach.

And that's where this blog and this post come in....we need more laughter in our lives....laughter is the place of creativity, it is the muse, and she calls out to each of us.

As executives, middle managers, supervisors, we learned how to do 'serious'.  But do we remember how to dance, to sing, and to laugh until our bellies ache.   Watch this til the end and tell you aren't smiling!

(And Matt's from Seattle!)

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.