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360 Assessments are a widely used professional development tool. Clients identify work colleagues who anonymously scale various job performance traits around leadership and management. Many 360s also include qualitative remarks.

Reitz and Higgins have researched how we talk, listen, and learn from each other inside the workplace for decades. Power has an enormous impact on who speaks up and who is heard. Unfortunately, people in charge often don't recognize how their power silences others.

I found the observations on Listening Up incredibly informative. Great leaders know that active listening uncovers problems earlier, provides a richer pool of options, allows course correction more quickly, and creates a problem-solving culture. The benefits are enormous, yet most leaders must be attuned to what it takes to make others speak up. They don't create an environment that allows them to Listen up.

I highly recommend Fred Kofman's newest book, The Meaning Revolution. I found his discussion on the ego's effect on leadership very interesting. I've summarized some of the critical points in this blog.

You can enjoy this appetizer, but please read the book.

To be a great leader, you must love the mission more than you love yourself. A mission-driven leader does find self-work through admiration, praise, and obedience. Instead, a mission-driven leader inspires others to accept a meaningful mission.

It's now dark when I take the dogs on the trail. I go early morning because I let the dogs run off-leash. These days, I'm running with a headlamp, and boy, there's nothing like a headlamp to make all the spider webs super visible.

What makes a leader? (check all that apply)

1. Provide vision

2. Allocate resources

3. Develop staff

4. Raise money

5. Set the course

6. Create a plan

7. Lead the Board

8. Fire people

Leaders do all these things and many other tasks, but a leader does something far harder. Leadership shows when we connect with others in a way that brings out the best in the leader and others.

What's the scariest thing you hear at work?

"Can I give you some feedback?"

What's your first reaction?

1. Say, Hell no!

2. Run away

3. Defend yourself from the criticism that's coming

4. Bare your teeth

5. Think, yeah. A chance to grow

Did you pick number 5? Wow, unicorns really do exist.

"It feels like I'm dragging everyone behind me, and it's exhausting."

I recently heard this from a new client, let's call her Susan.

"I get everyone on board, they say they're with me, and then I start hearing a list of excuses."

Susan is a charismatic visionary who craves progress and thrives on experiments. To Susan, failures are points of interest and opportunities to learn, but her team sees it all differently.

Welcome to 2022. Another week, another Zoom meeting.

We have been leaning into the virtual world for years now, and it looks like it's here to stay. Don't get me wrong, Zoom has saved my business, and I enjoy its convenience, but there are some serious disadvantages.

The first downside is seeing how I look to others. The truth is on my screen, and I don't like it. My bad hair, lighting, and all my smiles, frowns, and worry lines etched on my face are on full display. I don't think I'll ever get used to that.