Category Archives: Compassion

Secrets of Success: Dr. Catherine Gordon

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This is a segment in a series of profiles of values based leaders in all walks of life.  It is part of GEN Shelton’s book, Secrets of Success.  This post focuses on Dr. Catherine Gordon, a highly acclaimed medical researcher in the Boston area.

  • Over the years I’ve realized what an important role leadership plays in my work.  I was blessed by some wonderful mentors and, for young scientists, a mentor is so important.  So part of my mission is to coach young scientists the way I’ve been coached, taking the time to give them both positive and negative feedback.  As academic doctors, we are so busy in the hospital; there’s always a sick patient, a class to teach, a grant due.  There’s no room for error with patients, so it’s easy to forget to take the time to give your team positive feedback.  But I try to remember to mix the positive feedback with the negative, that good leaders will always take the time to discuss what’s going well and why. 

5 Key Thoughts and Principles of Leadership (part 4 of 5)

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(Note-you can find the first post that outlines the background of this series here and here. This is the fourth in the series.

4-WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF LEADERSHIP? The CEO I listened to noted this as a cornerstone of leadership: ” I believe in lots of servant leadership. I try when people come in and sit down, I ask a 5 word question-“How can I help you?” (NOT What do you want?).  I mean that-think about how those words sound.  This sets the stage from the start.  People come to you because they may be anxious, fearful, afraid of you or what you might do.  I get it but I don’t get it.”

“You have to create an environment where you can get at the issue and solving it.  It is at the core of servant leadership.  It is a primary job to serve.   If you are not deploying your skils in the service of others or the organization, you will be less effective.  History is filled with all sorts of leadership styles-fear ultimately destroys the leader and those around him or her, even if the cause was righteous.”

Five Key Thoughts and Principles of a Leader (Part 2 of 5)

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I shared the background of these thoughts in on the 5/10/13 post. Here is the second key thought of a leader.

2.BE A LISTENER/LISTEN BROADLY:     There is a difference between hearing and listening. People size you up.  Be a good broad listener. You can do this by listening to people who have a radically different point of view.  The key is not to necessarily agree with them, but to understand what is important to them and what they value.  There will come a time when you will need to work with them on something that is important to you.  Understanding what is important to you helps you frame the discussion. You don’t have to agree with what they say, but listen broadly.

LISTEN DEEPLY: When people come to you or bring you something for your attention or you ask for information, listen deeply.  Take the two words-“listen” and “silent”.  I’m not sure there is a coincidence that both of them have the exact same letters. Speak little and do much.  It is your job to create a safe haven for them to share what is on their heart as well as what is on their mind.You want to invite (not pull) their concerns, thoughts and feelings.

I’ve learned that the bigger the title, the less people will tell you.  It’s not that people are lying to you but everybody has a nuance to the story.  You get the truth but not the whole truth. You have to find what is not being said.  Listening for what is not said, looking at body language. Hear what is not said, pick up on it and we ultimately get to the crux of the matter. That’s why the more important the conversation, the more important it is to look at the person. You learn more on the nonverbal communication by meeting face to face.  The more detached the communication, such as instant messaging or texting, the less you get of the story. Think of it as a continuum. The more important the conversation, the more personal it needs to be.

Practice muzzle spasm- If you have to do most of the talking, it’s bad, they have to search for the nugget.  Iv’e been told “we need you to speak up quicker and say more.”  I get it. I know that this can drive people crazy.  But you need to know that I try to listen first then give my input. I don’t want to stifle the conversation or perspectives from others.

 

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Five Key Thoughts and Principles of Leadership (Part 1 of 5)

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During a recent executive education program we led, the CEO of the organization came to have an informal discussion with the participants.  The focus of the executive education program was to build additional perspectives and capabilities as the organization was preparing itself to continue to lead in a highly volatile market.  The CEO started off by noting that nothing that the CEO was about to say was new, because they had heard these five key thoughts and principles from previous town hall meetings. I asked if I was able to take notes and share the nuggets, which was granted.  I’ll outline these five key thoughts and insights in a series of posts, starting with the first thought from the CEO.

1-KNOW WHO YOU ARE- You need to know what you believe, your sense of right and wrong, what makes your heart sing, what depresses you, what makes you angry, and what makes you happy.  If you don’t have personal clarity in your own mind, it will be more difficult for you to be a leader and have others follow you.  If you don’t know where you are, its hard for you to know where you are going.

How do you do that? Start with your personal belief set-spiritual, political and everything in between.  Nothing is necessaily right or wrong. But it is VERY important for you to clearly think this through.  You might be asked to articulate this. What are your underpinnings?  If you get fog or vagueness, you are missing the boat and you are less effective as a leader.

You’re NOT selling your point of view but you may be forced to look at right and wrong (ethics).  You must be prepared to articulate what the red lines are for you.  This is the foundation-immutable, anchors, immutable principles for integrity.  Finally, be careful how you deploy your beliefs but do not depart from them.

 

Secrets of Success: North Carolina GOV Jim Hunt

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This is an occasional series of lessons learned from values based leaders profiled in the book, Secrets of Success, by GEN H. Hugh Shelton.  This first set of nuggets comes from former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt.  Governor Hunt is now actively involved in  NCSU’s Emerging Issues Institute. Here are some selected nuggets:

  • During my life, I came to realize that one of the best ways to exercise leadership is to do it with partners.  This leadership by partnership requires a lot of people working together to to achieve success.  Now, good leaders have to have good ideas, a vision.  They have to understand the importance of ideas and that their own idea may need a lot more, a lot of vetting. 
  • Then I had an experience that really shaped me.  I think that all good leaders can cite something that happened in their life that really touched them, that grabbed their attention.  I used to run on my farm in Wilson County and on my route – across the interstate highway – was an old ramshackle house.  There were beer bottles covering the front yard, old worn-out cars up on blocks, and I noticed that this little child would come out the front door with a millk bottle in his hand trying to get some milk from the bottle.  He’d be sucking this empty bottle, always in a diaper and nothing else, even during the coldest winter days.  It was clear to me that there was nobody in that house taking care of that child.  So I said to myself “What chance is that child going to have?  This isn’t right!” 
  • I laid out my idea: to give these children a good start, to provide high-quality early childhood education for them, and to help their parents be successful.  Again, this was in my campaign for the governorship in 1992: there were town hall gatherings, one-on-one conversations.  The people of North Carolina answered by re-electing me overwhelmingly for a third term, and in doing so, they were saying what they wanted to do about one of the biggest problems in the state.  They didn’t just elect a governor; they made a commitment to education for young children, to Smart Start.  The key or secret to that success was this:  the leadership was a partnership with the caring people of North Carolina.

What instances have you seen where leadership through partnership was very effective?