Leaders Don’t Wait for Any Cycle
November 25th, 2008 by Rosa SayWe all know that the economic climate of our nation and the world is a messy affair, and we in Hawai‘i are in that mess along with everyone else.
There are many economists talking about “cycles” right now, including those here in our islands, and they’re driving me crazy. I understand their good intentions; they don’t want to contribute to a full-blown panic and they want to be the voice of reason. Well, newsflash; our panic is already happening, and I question how you define reasonableness.
I think these well-intentioned economists are hurting us more than helping us.
Alaka‘i-preferred leadership is why I feel that way: Leaders know that waiting, wishing and hoping for things “to get better again” of their own haphazard volition is a lousy strategy. In fact, it’s no strategy at all.
Leaders don’t wait for some cycle to self-correct.
Leaders know there is no such thing as the perfect cycle, so why wait for it?
Cycle talk is stifling; it’s the talk of hesitation.
Hesitation kills energy; it drains it out of us and wastes it.
Even worse, cycle talk can direct whatever energy we do muster up toward lemming-like behavior, where damaging auto-pilot gets proliferated.
On the other hand, Alaka‘i Leaders know a better future is a constant work in progress, and they realize we can’t waste our time and our energy sitting around, playing it safe, and waiting things out. (To do so is also boring).
What are you working on right now?
We’ve defined the Leader as the person who works on visionary ideas, whether the idea is theirs or the brilliant proposition of someone else. To a leader, that phrase “works on” is largely about strategies which make ‘hoping’ for the idea both possible and plausible.
Remember: Leaders create the energy of movement, something ‘waiting’ is the exact opposite of. President-elect Barack Obama understood this when he picked The Audacity of Hope as the title for his book, and within it he wrote,
“I suspect that some readers may find my presentation of these issues to be insufficiently balanced. To this accusation, I stand guilty as charged. I am a Democrat…”
If you are a leader, or you want to be one, you don’t like waiting around for cycles, for consensus, or for a perfected idea. You think that ‘audacity’ is a good word, and an even better personal quality. You recognize the seeds of great ideas, for your instincts tell you that even a partially germinated idea is far better than no idea-seeding at all. You think any idea can be a catalyst for working on better strategies; you work on improving both idea and strategy as you go along.
If you are a leader, or you want to be one, I’m guessing you are getting very impatient right now, and I say, good for you! Is there any doubt remaining that Mr. Obama’s visionary thinking about what a United States presidency could be started way before he took the podium for his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention?
Get impatient; patience is not a virtue in a recession.
Leaders don’t wait for cycles to self-correct; they have better ideas about improving old cycles —and they are working on them. Even if they don’t have a better idea yet, they know they can think of one if they concentrate on doing so. They will get pretty impatient with themselves until they can get to work on a great idea, and they smartly channel their impatience to the good usefulness of coming up with one.
This recession we are in can cause you to be a catalyst. Define recession however you like, I say we’re in one so we can focus on the movement that saying so provides us with. Are the economic effects we now feel Hawai‘i providing unrest for you and adding to your sense of impatience? They are for me.
Dean Boyer offered us a terrific definition for catalyst in his comment here last Thursday.
He wrote:
“I love the phrase “obliterate obstacles,” which sounds like an explosive approach against impediments. I can see it working best with processes and procedures that impede progress. However, if the obstacle is a person, a more patient approach might be best, especially if the person is worth the patient investment. Having worked in the people business (education) for more than 30 years, I have seen the wisdom of another word “catalyst.” A chemist friend of mine defined it not as something which causes other things to occur but as something which lowers resistance so change can occur.”
Hmm. “Not as something which causes other things to occur, but as something which lowers resistance so change can occur.” How about someone who lowers resistance so change can occur?
Dean was referring to how we manage others (thus his call for patience), but how about how we manage ourselves? The first thing we manage is our attitude (optimistic or pessimistic), and then our value-based expectations of our own behavior (waiting around, or working on something) and we ask ourselves some questions:
- Can my impatience help me by challenging me to create better?
- Is my hesitation the biggest obstacle I face right now?
- What resistance do I have to change, and why?
- If I don’t like the change I am in, what ‘replacement change’ can I generate and work on instead?
Then voila, those answers become your new idea, one borne of self-generated energies.
This recession can be your opportunity for reinvention.
Cycle talk is keeping us scratching along in survival mode. Business models which have been held together by the contingency called “a hope and a prayer” are falling apart, with all their weaknesses exposed. This is no fun at all.
However I do know this; business models can be reinvented fairly quickly, and doing so with Alaka‘i-branded management and leadership is way more fun!
Both managers and leaders have a fabulous opportunity to reshape business right now, creating a brand-spanking new economic landscape that is much more fertile and sustaining than the one we’ve been in. You need not take on the scale of a presidential campaign; there is much you can do right within your own circle of influence. Begin with small projects, and your success will fuel efforts with larger ones.
And I am not saying you change everything. By all means, Ho‘omau [continue to persevere]; persist with, and perpetuate those basics which you know to be good and right for you —your value alignment is the clue to what those things are. However get brave and reinvent too; reframe and innovate where your idea hunches lead you. Work on your ideas as the process of thinking more about them.
Please, don’t wait for any cycle. You’re smarter than that, and we need you to show us what you’re made of. I prefer to put my faith in people, than in cycles and in any processes or systems stuck in the mediocrity of auto-pilot. So what if we make mistakes here and there? We learn and move on.
Let’s talk story about the kinds of reinvention which are possible right now:
What suggestions do you have which could be catalysts for someone else too? Share your thoughts and your Aloha, for we’ve all got work to do! Seeds of ideas are welcomed and encouraged; you need not have all the answers, for we are in this together.
Tags: catalysts, cycles, economy, energy, ideas, impatience, leadership, questions, reinvention, work
November 25th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Rosa,
I have had less success "lowering resistance" than causing action. In attitude, I am an optimist and unafraid of challenges. Thus, I am most guilty of moving ahead prematurely, sometimes without adequately counting the costs. It's not so much that the direction I take is wrong - it's the timing.
I also have come to realize that, to some degree, people must give you the privilege of leading them. A title really does not do that. President-elect Obama will have to earn his followers' respect and support by his timely actions of leadership; he will not be followed because of his position or title, in my opinion.
With this in mind, can you provide some counsel regarding the "when" of bringing about change? Granted, if a crisis is brewing, action is required. But, when others do not see the necessity of the proposed changes, what are steps do you to take that are wise and timely?
November 25th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Rosa, coming back to an earlier conversation I think this is why I don't find the optimism/pessimism dichotomy particularly useful.
An optimist might say: everything will be all right, let's press on and ignore economic reality.
Or, don't worry, let's focus on the positive and that will make everything all right. Anyway, everything will be all right next year.
A pessimist might say: this looks worse than anything we've seen for decades. Things aren't going to improve until the cycle changes.
A leader says: okay, things are bad, and I can see that... so now, what's to be done?
An added note from Rosa:
Dear readers, this is the earlier conversation I believe Joanna is referring to, a post I wrote at my Talking Story blog called Management Responsibility 101: Optimism which had asked, "Are you a positive voice right now in a vast sea of negative news?"
Good job Joanna, I like the way you shortened my post to the talking points which make sense for you, i.e. within your own vocabulary precedence with optimism and pessimism. ~ Rosa
November 25th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Loaded question Dean, and why the management partnership to leadership is such a situational art: There can be many smaller questions to answer within that “when” decision, such as (and perhaps most important to a leader)
“If I make this move now,
will I be going it alone on this, or
have others enrolled in the vision enough, so
we can and will collaborate on
perfecting our “how” we get it done
as we work through it?”
The movements that leaders become catalysts for (i.e. lowering resistance as you have helped us define!) are 1st team and then community movements, otherwise they aren’t leaders as much as rebels who can be dismissed as extremists or those with only half-baked ideas. I think you answered the question well in your own comment, when you ended with, “when others do not see the necessity of the proposed changes, what are steps you take that are wise and timely?” You communicate better, so the ‘seeing’ will happen, or so you yourself see things with more clarity; great leadership delivers great clarity on a compelling vision, and if people aren’t getting on board, it isn’t compelling enough.
I agree with you Dean; it is not the title that does the ‘heavy lifting’ of a cause for a leader, it is the idea which generated the cause to begin with —and then the critical management of the idea. There is a big difference between decision-making and decision-management.
November 25th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I'm going to lose my mind waiting for Jan 20, it seems an eternity away-- I want Obama's full leadership NOW!
But he's assumed his leadership role already, hasn't he? Yes, as far back as 2004 (I was in that arena when he gave the speech in Boston and he electrified that place!) and right on up through the campaign and 2008 election. But what is it about him that *compels* us to think of him as a leader NOW? His charisma I think is a huge factor, but I tell you what this former Hillary Clinton supporter loves in Barack Obama now: his calmness, the way he gives thought to his words, his measured but seemingly effortless deliberation to his sentences, the way he really listens (have you seen how he pays attention to people when they are speaking?) and most of all, the way he inspires. And in this time of limbo to Jan 20, I hear him saying that he wants to move quickly, experiment, try new innovative ways of doing things, keep what works and get rid of what doesn't work: these are the thoughts and strategies of a true leader.
I might have drunk the Koolaid, but I think Obama will be the catalyst that inspires a lot of us to work hard and find our way through the tough times ahead. I think he's going to name a dynamite administration that will steady the boat and make us all strong of heart. I think he will always clearly articulate his vision for a better America, a better life for all of us. He'll keep us moving forward no matter what the "cycle" is doing. And those are golden qualities in a leader.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Susie, I see Mr. Obama as needing to be more in management mode right now (i.e. before 1/20 arrives) --- that work of aligning efforts with "mission and working with others" we spoke of in management versus leadership --- and he apparently is hard at work assembling the team he will directly manage and lead in the the four years to come. I love the transparency of it all, something I do not recall in previous presidencies.
I am purposely separating management and leadership to make certain points of clarity as we set our vocabulary for Say ‘Alaka‘i,’ however the reality is that we as individuals both manage and lead every day.
Within your comment you mention a couple of qualities I do believe all leaders must aspire to grooming: "his calmness, the way he gives thought to his words, his measured but seemingly effortless deliberation to his sentences, the way he really listens (have you seen how he pays attention to people when they are speaking?) and most of all, the way he inspires."
Thanks so much Susie: Very thoughtful stuff, and I appreciate the time you put into your comment.
November 29th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
An update:
I had written this posting before Jeanne Mariani-Belding, The Honolulu Advertiser's editorial and opinion editor put Leroy Laney, economist and professor at HPU on her feature The Hot Seat.
Jeanne wrote that she had extended her invitation to Mr. Laney, as someone who "is frequently tapped for his forecasts by First Hawaiian Bank. Laney has a broad range of experience in banking and government. He served as a staff economist on the U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers in Washington, D.C., as an international economist with the U.S. Treasury in Washington, and as a senior economist in the Federal Reserve System."
Therefore, my post was NOT in response to his views; he took The Hot Seat the following day, and you can read about his views to a great variety of economic questions here:
Now on the Hot Seat: Leroy Laney, economist and professor at HPU.