What Would Peter Senge say to Rob Ford and Toronto’s City Council?
I’ve thought a lot about leadership and Rob Ford. In fact, I should send Toronto’s Mayor a thank you note. I’ve used him as an example, or perhaps more accurately – a warning, in many of my leadership sessions in the past year. A couple of thoughts have continued to surface for me as I have reflected on this latest series of leadership scandals.
The first one is a question: What would a leader do? I’ve thought about leaders I know personally. Especially leaders who hold public offices. I’ve noticed that they recognize that being a leader in a public position involves personal sacrifice. One individual I know, a police chief for a large urban area, was a great example for me. He took great pains to make sure that his life was beyond reproach. I don’t recall ever seeing him have a drink. I imagine there were times when he would have liked to enter into the revelry at a party but he didn’t. In Rob Ford’s case, I wonder if he has asked himself the question, “What would a leader do?” Or more specifically, “What would a leader do now, for the greater good of the city?” I haven’t heard him talk about the greater good. I have heard him comment mostly about what he wants.
The other thought has been the title of this blog post. Peter Senge in his best selling book The Fifth Discipline, writes about organizational learning disabilities. He identifies seven. I think, and Peter Senge if you read this correct me if I am wrong, he would isolate a few of them in this situation.
They are:
1. I am my position. Senge writes, “When people in organizations focus only on their position, they have little sense of responsibility for the results produced when all positions interact”(p.19). Mayor Ford doesn’t seem to get the big picture here. The members of council have sent him a message but he doesn’t appear to have any sense of responsibility. He is his position.
2. The enemy is out there. Senge says, “There is in each of us a propensity to find someone or something outside ourselves to blame when things go wrong. … “Out there” and “in here” are usually part of a single system” (p. 19 -20). Enough said?
The other disabilities include: The illusion of taking charge; the fixation on events, the parable of the boiled frog, the delusion of learning from experience and the myth of the management team.
I think the events of the past few weeks have shown that Rob Ford is a part of a dysfunctional system that has a major learning disability. His family appears to enable his behaviour and hearing the comments made to the police by people close to the mayor they have also played a role in enabling him. As a leader he needs to take responsibility for his actions but the people around him need to ask themselves how they contributed to this mess to begin with. The talk on the street for months has been that he has serious substance abuse issues.
I think Peter Senge would say this organization needs to start by looking at the whole system. Is that possible with Mayor Ford at the helm?
What We Remember
I wonder if this has ever happened to you? Have you ever recalled a scene in a movie only to watch it later and realize your memory is wrong? The classic example is from the movie, Casablanca. The line, “Play it again, Sam” is never uttered by Bogart. My daughter and I misquoted a line from one of my favourite movies, The War. When put in a position where we didn’t want to do something we would quote, “I ain’t given no cotton candy to those Lipnickis.” One year when we were re-watching the movie (a summer tradition), we realized that no one says that line in the movie!
This week I read about a 12 foot high fiberglass reproduction of Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy that was installed in London’s Hyde Park. The sculpture was built to commemorate what the Brits chose as the most memorable moment in British TV drama – the scene where Mr. Darcy emerges sopping wet from the lake in Pride and Prejudice. In the BBC production, we never see Darcy emerging from or even standing in the water. (I guess I will watch it again to verify this information!)
It makes me wonder, how often we have an impression of an event in our lives that we are convinced happened and it never did. We construct memories based on our perceptions of what happened. Ask any siblings to discuss a family event and chances are you’ll get a different perspective – and fodder for a family argument down the line.
All this is a good reminder to me. My memories are my interpretation of an event. They are not right or wrong – they are what I experienced as reality. I can’t go back and re-watch an event. I can verify my perceptions with other people and I can be careful that I don’t take one version of a story as the truth of what happened.
Magically Whisked Away… to Delaware | IMG Blog
An excellent blog post from Ian Martin Group on the next stage of their business. Worth reading (and worth re-posting for me)!
Summer Reading
I have noticed the appearance of several lists of ‘Must Read Books for Summer 2013’. My local library announces their summer selection for One City One Book this week. I was thinking about what I want to read about this summer. I’d love a book on how to get your house ready to sell in 3 easy steps. I think I would like to do some reading on preserving as well since I have talked all Winter and Spring about my intention to do enough canning to see us through the winter. I would also like to escape into a couple of good stories as well. So, how about it? What is on your list? What do you recommend?
Choose Yourself
I’ve been reading a few blogs this morning that talk about the idea of taking charge of your career and looking for an alternative way or a different path to get your work out there.
What does that mean for Leadership Development? How can a consultant or training organization find a path that doesn’t require getting picked to succeed?
Getting It Done
I am an ideas’ person, so I love it when I run across an article about how other people get things done. I came across this blog today and I must say I am impressed with Mr. Clive Thompson.
I strive to be this organized! Here are my answers to a couple of the same questions:
What apps/tools/software do I rely on?
- Dropbox – 95% of my documents are stored here.
- Evernote – I use Evernote almost like my own personal Pinterest. I save everything from recipes to gift ideas. It’s my repository of anything I see that I might want to refer to in the future.
- Pocket (formerly Read It Later) for articles, etc. I want to go back and read in more depth.
- Pulse News is the app I use on my iPad for organizing blogs I followw.
- Paper: I use a Moleskine weekly planner. I have hacked it slightly to work for me. I like to write out my daily to do list and make a note of any appointments. Actually writing out my must do items each day helps me focus on the right things. I do use my MacBook/IPad/IPhone for scheduling. I like that they sync seamlessly.
What’s my workspace like?
Overall I keep a very tidy office. I like to have a clutter free desk when I am working on something. I have my laptop and possibly my IPad almost as a second monitor. I have a vision board on the wall that is a living work. I add Post-It notes to it as I think of anything else I want to do. I do love paper products and pens. I can’t imagine being completely digital although every year I find myself relying more on technology and less on paper.
These are just a few of mine – not nearly as exhaustive as Clive Thompson’s list that you can find at the link in the first paragraph.So, your turn, what tools or tricks do you have to keep you on track?
The Sidewalk, The Storefront, and the Back Room
Chris Brogan has a way of putting things that is simple and compelling at the same time. I’m thinking about The Sidewalk today and how I can be more helpful to my readers. I wonder what the digital equivalent is of dressing up like a mascot and standing outside waving traffic in?
A good resource for entrepreneurs:
Cognitive Load Management
I have been reading an article, 10 New Skills that Every Worker Needs, in Rotman Management magazine. One of the skills listed is Cognitive Load Management. I frequently hear about the need for this skill from clients. I also experience it personally in the form of feeling overwhelmed by information. I recently observed something when I was reading the newspaper (yes, I still like the ritual of tea and a print copy of the paper in the morning). I noticed that I now read the newspaper, with my iPad beside me. Interesting articles, comments or facts are immediately captured on my iPad. I may take a snapshot, grab a link from the web or make myself a note.
What do I do with the information? I have found Evernote, a cloud-based platform, the best place to store it all. Anything stored in Evernote can be accessed on my iPhone, iPad or on any other device. There are apps for android, Blackberry and iPhone plus a number of other products to make using Evernote even more helpful.
When I need an illustration, book idea, wine suggestion, or meeting notes I simply open the app on my phone and search. I’ve been asked to teach an introductory class on Evernote for some friends and colleagues suffering from Cognitive Load Management Overload Syndrome. Yes, I made it up but I have experienced it and I’m sure there must be something addressing it in the medical books. If you are interested fill out the form below or leave a comment with your contact information. I’m currently deciding where to host it.
What are your best practices for cognitive load management?
So far so good?
Apparently not for the 25% of people who have, according to a radio program I heard today, abandoned their New Year’s Resolutions. Ouch!
So how are you doing? You don’t have to abandon your goals if you haven’t had a strong start. Learning is rarely a straight line trajectory. It is more likely to be a one step forward, two steps back scenario. Awareness is a big part of learning. So instead of abandoning your goals, evaluate what is going on. What can you tweak? What can you lighten up on? Were you too ambitious (really no sugar again EVER)? Were you really committed to the action needed to reach the goal or did you just want the result? What small thing could you do today that would inch you towards your desires?
You are where you are – accept it and move on.
Leadership ON PURPOSE 