We found that for leaders to make something great, their ambition has to be for the greatness of the work and the company, rather than for themselves.  ~Jim Collins

I thinkJim Collins’ work (author of Good to Great) is reflected in not only the talent, but the life of the extraordinary cellist, Yo-Yo Ma.

Not long ago I had the privilege of seeing Yo-Yo Ma in concert. It was the second time for me and he never disappoints. Three words that describe Ma are also attributes Collins’ uses to describe great leaders: focus, passion, and humility.

FOCUS

When being interviewed, Ma said, “I can be incredibly focused, and you know, incredibly willful.” This incident in Philadelphia describes just how focused he can be. 

Once, while playing in Philadelphia, his chair tipped over. As Ma fell backward, the audience gasped. A musician behind Ma caught him just in time. Amazingly, Ma kept playing through all of it and sat back down without missing a beat.

Collins said “Level 5 leaders are a study in duality: modest and willful, humble and fearless.”

PASSION

Ma said, “Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity because if you’re passionate about something, then you’re more willing to take risks.” 

If you’ve read Collins’ book, then you’re familiar with the hedgehog concept. The point where your answers to three key questions overlap. 1) What are you deeply passionate about? 2) What can you be the best in the world at? 3) What drives your economic engine? Passion is something that Ma understands and clearly demonstrates when he performs. It’s also quite evident that he is deeply passionate. It goes without question that he’s the best in the world.

HUMILITY

In a biography of Yo-Yo Ma by Susan Ashley he is described as “a true superstar, but one would never know it upon meeting him. Ma is soft-spoken and humble.” 

This was something I witnessed at the recent concert. I’ve been to many concerts, hundreds, and what I saw Ma do is extremely rare. When his featured cello concerto was finished, the audience immediately stood to their feet and he took a short and modest bow. Then, he walked over to the first-chair cellist and gave him a big hug. He proceeded to very personally greet each of the other cellists. Finally, he stepped back with the remaining musicians and included them in receiving the applause. It wasn’t about him; it was about the music. Just as Collins’ said, “leader’s ambition has to be for the greatness of the work, rather than for themselves.”

Ma being interviewed: “People will ask, ‘Are you famous?’ And I always answer, ‘My mother thinks so.’”

Inspiring leaders, who are focused, passionate, and humble, can be found in many places, even center stage at Symphony Center. Thank you, Yo-Yo Ma for both your musical and leadership inspiration.

What sews nicely in one culture may cut in another. But with a little effort and creativity, you can find many ways to encourage and learn from alternative points of view while safeguarding valuable relationships. ~Erin Meyer

I was exhausted at the end of last week. On Friday evening when I looked back on my week, I discovered what was causing me to say, “I’m so glad it’s Friday.” I had cultural whiplash.

My week started with facilitating two days of training with a small group of individuals and each one was from a different ethnic background. The next day I was with a group where they all shared a common ethnic background and I was the clear minority. Then I ended the week working on a project where you would think I had more in common with this group, on the surface they look a lot like me. However, they are in a geographic region that still represents a strong influence from one specific Anglo-Saxon group, different from my own.

As I made my way through the week, there were certainly times when I wanted to hit “rewind” and get a second chance at some of my interactions. I took comfort in thinking about examples author Erin Meyer shares in her book The Culture Map. This is her area of expertise and she describes scenarios where she too, goofed up.

Leaders educate themselves.

Meyer says, “Millions of people work in global settings while viewing everything from their own cultural perspectives and assuming that all differences, controversy, and misunderstanding are rooted in personality. This is not due to laziness. Many well-intentioned people don’t educate themselves about cultural differences because they believe that if they focus on individual differences, that will be enough.” 

I would argue, that you don’t need to work in a global setting to have differing cultural perspectives. Various neighborhoods of a metropolitan city or the east side and west side of the same state can have differing cultures. This is something we all need to be more intentional about learning and become more culturally flexible.

Listen more. Speak less.

Meyer also says, “When interacting with someone from another culture, try to watch more, listen more, and speak less. Listen before you speak and learn before you act.” Sometimes we may be a little too anxious to try and fit in. We may need to give ourselves more time to just watch, and just listen. It takes practice and persistence, much like developing physical flexibility.

Give others space and grace.

I would add to Meyer’s suggestion, that when we see and hear others messing up, as I did last week, that we give them some space and grace. We’re not going to get it right the first time, or every time. Many of us find ourselves in situations where we are trying to understand a number of cultures within a short timespan as I experienced last week.

Leaders: When do you need to listen more and speak less? When do you need to give others a little space and grace?

The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will.  ~William James

Have you ever worked with someone who frequently became defensive? What about the person whose mind seems to wander quickly in meetings? Or the colleague who is always trying really hard but continues to struggle with time management? Have you ever worked with someone who seemed so focused, clear, creative, and compassionate in the midst of a fast-paced and complex organization that you wondered if they could be for real?

All of these scenarios have something in common – mindfulness. This is what William James described when he said “voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again.” In recent years, mindful leadership has gained momentum. Effective leadership requires self-knowledge, self-awareness, and centeredness. Research tells us that the best leaders have some method to manage the barrage of information, data, possibilities, perspectives, and opportunities to sustain their presence of mind and overall health. 

A mindful leader trains their mind to turn off their autopilot. The American Psychological Association says “The inability to focus for even 10 minutes on any one thing at a time may be costing you 20 to 40 percent in terms of efficiency and productivity.”

Here’s the really good news, at least for me, mindfulness can be learned, with practice. One of the most common ways to learn to become more mindful is through the practice of meditation. If I just lost you, hold on for one minute. For many of us, meditation may have been labeled or defined as thinking about nothing. As I now understand it, that’s not really accurate. Meditation is a practice that enables just what William James described, the ability to bring your mind/attention back to center, over and over again. When you meditate your mind will wander; that doesn’t mean you’re unsuccessful or doing it wrong. When you recognize that your mind has wandered and you bring it back to center, you are very much meditating.

Through meditation, you learn to become mindful. When you are mindful of something, you are observing it, not caught up in it, and not identified with it. You release any judgment about it. By releasing judgment, you are able to be more focused, see it with more clarity, and become more creative because you have no preconceived notion as to what is.

If you think that mindful leadership sounds like a lot of gobbledygook, I’d suggest you give it a test drive for a couple of weeks and see if you can sense a difference. Organizations like General Mills, Target, Intel, Mayo Clinic, and United Way have invested heavily in training their leaders to become more mindful.

We brush our teeth every day because we believe that dental hygiene is important. Our mind and mental abilities are key to successful leadership; so what are your mental hygiene practices? 

As quiet and thoughtful leaders, introverts gently guide their people toward success. Their subtle power inspires without intimidating. Instead of flaunting their own greatness, introverts encourage their followers to find greatness in themselves. ~Michaela Chung

The Chicago headlines last week flooded the national media. Historic Chicago election draws national spotlight…, Two candidates going into April runoff in Chicago’s historic mayor race…, etc. What made the mayoral election historic? There were 14 candidates on the ballot and no one was a clear frontrunner. Chicago will have its first African-American woman mayor. One of the 14 candidates was a Daley (political legacy family of Chicago) and he didn’t make it to the final two elected for a runoff.

I have another historic fact to add to the mix.

I believe both of the candidates now in a runoff for mayor of Chicago, are introverts. We’ve had U.S. Presidents who are introverts so this certainly isn’t the first time an introvert will hold an elected office. But in Chicago’s recent history going back decades, we’ve not had the benefits of introverted leadership. So I simply could not pass up the opportunity to tout the power of introverted leaders.

What are some of the benefits of introverted leaders?

• more likely to hear and implement suggestions (Source: Susan Cain)
• creates a virtuous circle of proactivity (Source: Susan Cain)
• motivated by productivity, not ambition (Source: Ilya Pozin on Inc.com)
• solve problems with thoroughness rather than in haste (Source: Ilya Pozin on Inc.com)
• tend to be strong planners, more motivated by long-term goals than immediate rewards (Source: Everwise)
• great at managing people who can take initiative (Source: Everwise)
• great listeners, they ask for and consider opinions of others (Source: Everwise)
• value differences in opinion (Source: Everwise)
• think before they talk (Source: Everwise)

This list certainly isn’t exhaustive, but it begins to paint a picture of introverted leaders.

I’ve written about introverted leaders before and that topic resonated with a lot of readers. That response sent me on a personal mission to encourage introverts to be introverted leaders, and to stop succumbing to the pressure to be a pseudo-extroverted leader. There are too many leadership strengths that are unique to introverts that are sorely needed in every organization, and in this case, a major metropolitan city!

If you’re an introvert, stop holding back on seeking and accepting leadership roles. If you’re an extrovert, stop trying to turn introverts into extroverts believing that will make them better leaders. And, hang on Chicago. We’re in for a change in leadership style, regardless of who wins the runoff race in April.

Every industry (for-profit and not-for-profit) has shared assumptions. Every industry is “stuck.” However, somebody, somewhere is messing with the rules to the prevailing model. Someone is creating a uniquely better strategy. ~Andy Stanley

I immediately thought of the idea of uniquely better referenced by Andy Stanley when I read an article on Forbes.com about the basketball coach from my alma mater. I apologize for offending any sports fanatics reading this, but I never imagined there could be such an amazing example of a uniquely better strategy coming from basketball?!

Here’s a quick synopsis of the uniquely better strategy.

The administration at Greenville University asked the men’s basketball coach, George Barber, to add a junior varsity program and attract more athletes to the small Division III school. They wanted Barber to create more interest and make basketball more attractive to recruits. That’s quite the challenge for a Division III university.

So here’s what he did. Barber implemented something called “The System.” The System is a very fast-paced style that emphasizes shooting as fast as possible, pressuring teams full-court on defense, and continuing the breakneck speed the entire game. In more practical terms, this means attempting to shoot within 12 seconds of getting the ball, and taking at least 100 shots per game.

This strategy, The System, means more players get to (really have to) play in every game. The only way to maintain this pace through an entire game is to change players far more frequently than a traditional strategy. Therefore, everyone gets to play; that’s going make basketball more attractive to recruits.

This strategy didn’t come without its critics. “It was a complete risk,” Barber said. “Everybody said, you won’t win, you’re gonna embarrass yourself and your school, and defense wins championships.”  The first year was hard, with a losing record, Barber nearly gave up on The System, mid-game. But his assistant coach encouraged him to stick with it, he’d invested too much.

And sticking with it paid off, big time!

• The team is averaging 134.7 points per game and is on pace to break the NCAA record of 132.4 points per game.
• They won the conference tournament last season and qualified for their first NCAA berth.
• They scored 200 points in a game (one of Barber’s goals). Earlier this month they won 200-146, the most combined points score in a Division III game.

So what’s to learn from Coach Barber’s use of The System for creating a uniquely better strategy?

• It’s about more than “winning.” It’s about finding creative ways to achieve multiple goals.
• It’s risky. It’s not a sure thing; if it was, it probably wouldn’t be uniquely better.
• You have to stick with it. You can’t give up if it’s not immediately successful.
• It reinvigorates leadership.

How are you leading your organization down a path of a uniquely better strategy?