YOUR LEADERSHIP LEGACY

"A name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of one’s being born... Better is the end afterward of a matter than its beginning. " (Eccl. 7: 1, 8; NWT)

A former colleague of mine, along with his aged father and siblings, put his mother to rest this morning. Yesterday afternoon a bright February sun splashed the Fellowship Hall with warmth as well-wishers and family friends displayed their love, concern and support for the family. Their mother fought off cancer for sixteen years and only in the most recent two did its debilitating effects extract the most from her. She led a bountiful life that fell shy of 87 years by just two weeks.

In many respects there isn't anything particularly special about this except for those she personally nurtured, influenced and served. You know and likely have lost wonderful people just like my dear friend's mother.

TURN, TURN, TURN

Many my age are very familiar with Solomon's words from those penned in the bible's book of Ecclesiastes, the third chapter. Pete Seeger's "Turn, Turn, Turn (To Everything There is A Season)" was popularized commercially by David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, the prominent two of the five that comprised The Byrds. Turn, Turn, Turn though written by Seeger in 1959 wasn't recorded until 1962 and, as a single, went to the top of the charts in 1965 after the Byrds recorded and released it on the Columbia label.

Setting that aside, less often than other popular biblical verses, those noted above from Ecclesiastes the seventh chapter have a certain application as we contemplate and celebrate one's life passing.

The reasons I decided to highlight this particular woman's life and death with the objective of raising the issue of one's "leadership legacy" are many. Like numerous others of her generation, the child of immigrants, she was born in the Midwest, schooled there, graduated from a small college in Minnesota and went to work to support her husband while he finished school after serving in World War II. Both eventually became educators with a desire to serve and teach young ones from Whitehall, WI to Tripoli, Libya and that they did. You and I know there is a substantial leadership legacy embodied here and it is safe to assume it has less to do with students who sat in her classrooms than it does the impact she had on some of their lives, forever.

APPETITE FOR LEADERSHIP

Leadership is a fascinating thing and of course today, we talk and write about constantly. There is obviously a great appetite for Leadership Lessons as evidenced by the plethora of books, seminars, blog posts and endless opportunities for business owners and executives to improve their lot by paying attention to and applying even a small share of what is available to them.

Thinking back on my business career and leadership positions I was privileged to serve in, I don't recall ever being asked about what I was doing to assure that my leadership legacy would include those things I considered important when I finished. I wish someone had.

The point Solomon was making, of course, was that at the beginning of life, as happy an occasion that is for most parents, the newborn has yet to contribute to the family and society as a whole. It is only at "the day of death" that someone who had the responsibility of leading any other single or collective group of humans beings can be lionized for the good or bad they undertook as leaders. It is my belief that those who accept and actively engage in leadership ought to think about and answer the question I was never asked.

THINKING AHEAD - YOUR LEADERSHIP LEGACY

You've heard or had the experience in one way or another when the theoretical question is asked, "If you were to write your own eulogy today, would you be satisfied with it?" Our tendency may be to cooperate with the facilitator of such an exercise but readily set the thought of it aside once we step away from it. The reality is that we must give thought to our leadership skills as it relates to a leading a "High Performing Company" just as we must seriously map out the direction we intend to take the company or enterprise we lead.

Business owners and CEOs have to be reminded that a well-executed exit strategy isn't something results from a happenstance notion to do so. Many do lose sight of the fact that often times the planning required for the "Exit" is far more important than the planning to begin. Not unlike the difference between birth and death and I say that in anything but morbid terms.

So then, what do you want your "leadership legacy" to include and if it is to be a true legacy, what impact would you care to leave on those you have the privilege to lead? The leaders that led me didn't resonate with me because of earned or inherent wealth created for themselves or financially invested stakeholders. That isn't to say some of them didn't achieve great financial success, but that happens to be the least of their qualities that comes to my mind.

Those that have a left their leadership legacy with me did so out of a generosity of spirit, firm but kind guidance, a sharing of well-timed wisdom and doors that were to be closed only if I pulled them shut before me. We could argue that certain people just have that ability and without much thought, gave their best. While that may be so, it is my contention that a leader who consciously does the same now will not be easily forgotten by those that benefit from that determination.

Jim Naleid is a Life-long Entrepreneur, Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid

Leadership Lyrics

Songwriter's Lessons on Innovation, Creativity and Ingenuity

Whatever your preference of music happens to be; are you one that gives much thought to what it took to write and produce your favorites songs? My guess is that most of us don't.

COMMON THREADS

There is, however,  a leadership lesson to be taken from songwriters of all genres. To prove my assertion, pick up a copy of Paul Zollo's Songwriters on Songwriting (Expanded Edition; De Capo Press 1997). The book is a compilation of Zollo's interviews with the likes of  Pete Seeger, Willie Dixon, Livingston & Evans, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Carole King, K.D. Lang and many, many more. All approach their craft in their own unique ways and all have written songs of untold numbers that have never been heard or popularized. The common thread is that they wrote, some often, some not so. At times the music came first and the lyrics followed or vice versa, but they wrote.

Willie Dixon, who died at 75 in 1990, and known by many as the "Father of the Blues" wrote thousands of songs. Like so many things, the 80/20 rule applied to Dixon's originals and the relatively few that produced royalties once well-known artists recorded them.

David Crosby on the other hand admits that songwriting hasn't always come easy and unlike his good friend Neil Young, Crosby's songs came few and far between. Zollo attributes Crosby's patience in the process  as the key that unlocked the likes of "Wooden Ships" and "Deja Vu,"  songs that catapulted Crosby, Stills and Nash to fame in the late 60s.

DIFFERENT PATHS

While Dixon and Crosby worked from opposite ends of the creativity process, both produced their results based upon personal experience while acknowledging that not everything that came to mind, heart or soul was going to meet with success.  Keep in mind that the floors of songwriter kitchens, basements or music rooms are littered with "failed" compositions.

CEOs and business leaders that come to the conclusion that innovation and great ideas can be nurtured through a disciplined process, in many ways, go about it as songwriter's do. Willie Dixon told Zollo that his "blues" were all based upon facts and contrary to the tendency for most to think of the "blues" as songs of woe and lamentation, Dixon's tunes were predominantly filled with joy and hope of better things to come.

Crosby, on the other hand, told Zollo, "I can't legislate a song into being, it just will not happen for me. I can make a space for it to happen, and sometimes it will come and fill the space." Innovation comes about this way as well. In the same interview Crosby went on to say, "I'm sure we don't really know how the creative process works...you know it comes every which way."

ONGOING CHALLENGE

Many leaders I've spoken to and work with struggle with innovation, creativity and ingenuity and yet all of them realize that without these, there may be little or no future to contemplate. Today an internet search of the word "innovation" brings back 80 million 400 thousand results. It's obviously an important topic that has provided fodder for an endless stream of how-to blogs, posts and white papers, not to mention complete MBA course offerings.

The fact is that we will continue to talk about the ongoing need to innovate, create and ingeniously bring new products and services to market and we will do so in many different ways. Business leaders that have yet to successfully unleash the creative, ingenious and innovative minds within their organizations should at a minimum, learn a thing or two from songwriters. Perhaps Crosby put it best when he said he couldn't "legislate (insert 'innovation, creativity or ingenuity') a song."  But, when he made a "space for it to happen," in time he'd find that space to be filled.

Quite simple, isn't it? Provide the space and buy out the time. Collaborate when necessary. Play it one way. Try it another. It doesn't matter how many attempts end up on the drawing room floor. What matters is that you and those with you are frequently writing new scores.

Jim Naleid is a Life-long Entrepreneur, Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid