Dragonslaying Isn’t Good Leadership

January 18, 2007 by Liz

Off I Go to Solve the Problem

I rememer it clearly. It was my calling as a young manager. A youthful team member would come to me with a problem. Someone in another department was behaving in a manner that wasn’t right or just. I would set off on a quest. I’d be mentally dressed full armor as in a royal fairy tale.

I would be off to slay the dragon. And slay that dragon I often did.

Unfortunately, after I slayed the dragon I would listen to the other side of the story . . .

That’s when I’d see that the dragon I’d just slain was really a kitten.

Over time I learned two things well.

Leadership listens, considers, and seeks out all of the information before taking action.
People are not grateful when you slay their dragons for them.

Now, my response to a similar story is, “Oh, I’m so sorry that happened. Shall we discuss some thing you might do to get the situation back on track again or do you already have an action plan?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

About People, Black Holes, and Stars

January 18, 2007 by Liz

The Universal Human, Hmmmm

We need a black hole with a gravitational pull so powerful to counteract our all too human ability to over-value our uniqueness. The minute we think weÃ¢â¬â¢re stars, weÃ¢â¬â¢re not.

Read the whole feature in today’s Blog Herald by clicking the logo.

It’s about blogging and real life.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Change the World: A Small Generous Act that I Didn’t Expect

January 17, 2007 by Liz

Thank You Is a Better Response

It was coffee at Starbucks with friend that I don’t get to see often enough. How cool is that? I was adding milk to my coffee, pretending it was real cream. She reached over to get me a napkin and a stirrer. For a split second, I stiffened. I wanted to say, “i can do that!”

Then I caught myself. At least, I think I did.

This was a friend who was doing a kind thing for me. She wasn’t trying to make me feel “less.” She was showing I was “more” to her. I hope I said, “Thank you.”

“Thank you” is a better response than “I can do that!”

I almost ran over her small generous act by not seeing it, by being tied up in my independence and my history with two big brothers. That would have taken something from both of us.

That “I can do that!” feeling is easy to watch for. It usually comes in response to a small, generous act that I didn’t expect.

Be on the look out for the small, generous acts of others. People are doing them all around us every day.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

______________
If you’re ready to change the world, send me your thoughts in a guest post. Feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there that Sandy designed back to your blog. Or help yourself to this one.

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.

Itâs Always about the People

January 15, 2007 by Liz

Everything Else Is Immaterial

I had to pass this along.

No business is so good that the wrong people canÃ¢â¬â¢t mess it up. And no business is so bad that the right people canÃ¢â¬â¢t fix it. If you think about what a business is, itÃ¢â¬â¢s a collection of people who have been organized in attempt to profit from offering a product or service to the marketplace. So if you donÃ¢â¬â¢t get the people part of the equation right, everything else is really immaterial. –Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures

Thank you, Fred, for saying that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Behind every Successful business there is an Outstanding manager. Perfect Virtual Manager

Change the World: Each of Us Can

January 13, 2007 by Liz

Hey, Ben, How Can We Change the World?

On Monday I had a conversation with Ben Yoskovitz about changing the world. I figured that Ben, who is a quiet force behind Gifter.org, and who is always finding new initiatives such as Global Voices Online, would certainly have ideas worth sharing.

Ben responded with this simple and elegant piece you find here.

How Each of Us Can Change The World

Guest Writer: Ben Yoskovitz

You need a world view. You need to understand what’s going on out there. The world’s a big place, but as you shape your world view, the world itself gets very, very tiny.

Suddenly, the world is in your backyard. When that happens, you can start to change it so easily.

Getting a world view is easy. Go online, read and learn. Countless websites and blogs are out there. News-related. Personal. Get a feel for what’s happening.

Talk to people. Reading and learning isn’t enough. You have to speak with people to understand their experiences. Let them take you on a journey through their life, through their world.

When the world shrinks into the palm of your hand, you’ll know what to do to change it.

Benjamin Yoskovitz

Thank you, Ben, for showing us how we might start.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.

Change the World: Use and Interpret the Data

January 10, 2007 by Liz

What Will You Do with the Data?

A colleague calls you. She’s cranky and to the point. She doesn’t offer a greeting. She just starts right in with what she wants you to do.

What she wants you to do isn’t your job. It isn’t something that should naturally go to you. She’s demanding a huge favor, without even asking. Someone listening in would think you were being paid or that you’d already said, “yes.”

Of course, you have choices here, but the big one is.

How will use and interpret the data you have?

We can change the world by finding out more — more than what we think we know, more than the surface shows. Imagine the reasons, the ways that we might want to help.

You can change the world today — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

______________
If you’re ready to change the world, feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there that Sandy designed back to your blog. Or help yourself to this one.

Email me about what you’re doing or what we might do. Let’s change the world one bit at a time together. Together it can’t take forever.