HIGH DEFINITION LEADERSHIP

The Advantage of the Box Top

2009-02-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Excerpts from my latest speech delivered on January 24, 2009 How many of you (by show of hands) have attempted to put together a jigsaw puzzle – you know, a 500 to 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle? Whenever I ask this question almost every hand in the room goes up. I remember when I was a child. My mother and my brothers and I would go to the Woolworth’s – mom called it the five and dime – and we would pick out a jigsaw puzzle together. We would gather around the kitchen table and dump that box of pieces and spread them all out and turn them right side up. Then we would get to work. This was a special time for us. We laughed and joked a lot; we talked and we worked together to figure out that puzzle. Usually there was more puzzle than time and we would go to bed with a lot of work left to be done. During the following week we might pass that table and stick a piece in here or there or sort out like pieces and clump them together because they looked like they belonged together. It was a great, inexpensive source of both entertainment and bonding. We didn’t have a lot but we had a great time with what we had. This was a great learning experience for me and I thank my mother for providing both the experience and the invaluable lessons that this kind of family fun provided. Now, I have another question for you. How many of you (again, by show of hands) have attempted to put together a jigsaw puzzle – you know, a 500 plus piece puzzle – without the box top? Whenever I ask this question rarely does anyone raise a hand – generally the room falls silent and everyone looks around. Attempting to put together a large jigsaw puzzle is extremely complicated without the advantage of the box top. The box top shows you the picture of the finished product – the destination. It reveals to you the desired outcome. With the advantage of the box top you have a better chance of knowing where a certain piece may fit. Without the advantage of the box top it is often difficult to make great decisions. You experience more frustration and you might even tend to blow where the wind might take you. Most of the people that I meet are attempting to put together the equivalent of a 3 dimensional 1,000,000,000 piece jigsaw puzzle without the advantage of the box top. The jigsaw puzzle that I am referring to is life. And because the box top has not been crafted and articulated up front many do not know what to do with the pieces that come their way. They cannot recognize many of the critical elements that come into their lives because they just don’t know how to best use those elements. Many times the pieces that one needs to complete their personal jigsaw puzzle come into their lives and are not recognized because the final picture has not been determined in advance. In the case of that jigsaw puzzle one might pick up a green piece and not know whether it is the grass, part of a bush, a tree top or part of a green dress. The same thing happens in life. Sometimes a piece that is instrumental in getting you to your ultimate destination crosses your path and you are not quite sure how it fits because you have not taken the opportunity to put together your “box top” in advance. This critical piece might go ignored or set aside causing missteps and delay in achieving your ultimate goal. When you have your box top in front of you, you have a better understanding of where things fit when they show up. How many times do we go looking for that piece that showed up “at the wrong time” that we can no longer put our finger on? We may no longer have access to it because we were ill prepared for it when it arrived. That piece could be a person, an opportunity, a book, a tool or almost anything. If you have your box top in advance you have a better chance to know where the pieces that show up in your life fit in your ultimate puzzle. We have all met people that seem to have a greater vision for their ultimate destination in advance. These are the people that always seem “to have it all together” - the people who seem to always know exactly how to respond to things that come up in their lives. They can decipher useful information and opportunities in a meaningful way for themselves. They look like better leaders. Also those people are generally seen as more confident in most situations that arise - whether anticipated or not. The rest of us tend to be amazed at their ability to manage their life. The world recently witnessed a very public display of someone who had their box top well-articulated and digested. In our last presidential race we got the opportunity to witness one of the best run campaigns that has occurred in our lifetimes, and possibly in all of American history. Barack Obama had his desired destination laid out in such detail that, compared to the other candidates running for the highest office in this land, his message and direction far surpassed that of his opponents. He also was better prepared to respond to the shifting environment of the campaign because he did not have to continually shift positions in order to succeed at his objective. When new “pieces” showed up he could place them appropriately. He was able to maintain a consistent message even though there were curveballs thrown at him throughout the campaign. He was able to respond timely and appropriately to the many distractions, such as, the change in our economic climate and Reverend Wright without straying from the box top that he put together from the beginning. He set the tone for his campaign and his staff using his box top. My final question for you is, “are you attempting to put together the jigsaw puzzle that is your life without the advantage of the box top?” PS – Mom, I know you are reading this so I’d like to publicly thank you for this lesson and wish you a very Happy Birthday!

HD Leadership Requires FOCUS

2008-08-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

OUT OF FOCUS

We live in a world where somehow focus has become a bad word. Everyone is so proud of their ability to "multi-task" that we have all lost the ability to focus. And what makes it worse is that it is now an acceptable excuse for mistakes, "oh, I must have gotten that wrong because I was not focused on what I was doing."

This multi-tasking epidemic has invaded every aspect of our lives. For example, there is now Bloomberg TV where you can watch and listen to a "talking head", read the stock ticker and watch the news crawl all on one screen. If you are not into business ESPN does the same thing. We now have 200 plus television channels in our homes to bounce through whenever there is a brief lull. Successful music videos can only hold a shot for a maximum of .5 seconds or it is too slow to keep its audiences attention. We now eat our meals while we drive and talk on the phone while sending text messages and reading.

Now, I am not claiming superiority here because I am certainly guilty of most of the same things. However, we must admit the risks that come with a continuously multi-tasked life. There are more traffic accidents and more unnecessary mistakes in our work and homes. There are also increased bad decisions that tie to our impatience in acquiring the right information in order to make better decisions. I firmly believe that this practiced lack of focus has helped spur the epidemic levels of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among other ailments that we see too much of today.

WHAT DOES FOCUS LOOK LIKE

I mentioned in the "Consequences" post that one of the stumbling blocks that will be incurred as you ascend up the HD Leadership Pyramism is that people may perceive your focus as arrogance or rudeness. Sometimes this is what focus looks like. I first acknowledged this concept when I was watching the 2006 U.S. Open (Tennis) Men's Final. Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick in four sets. During a crucial point in which Federer was serving he reached his hand back and a towel girl gave him a towel. He used the towel to wipe his sweat from his racket and his face and without looking tossed the towel back in the girl's general direction. I initially thought, "wow, that was rude." I rewound the scene and watched it again and got my lesson. In order to be the best in the world at anything you have got to have a tremendous ability to focus.

Soon after that incident one of my employees was telling me a story about a friend of his who is a poker dealer in Las Vegas Poker. One day this friend was dealing at the private, high stakes poker table. Playing at his table this day was Michael Jordan and a couple of other high rollers. He informed me that his friend's perception was that Michael Jordan was rude and made no small talk and just played his hand. Again, Michael is a competitor. He did not get to be the best in the world at his craft by multi-tasking.

Finally, I used to own golf training facilities and one day had a discussion with a PGA pro whereas he told me the story of his brush with greatness. It was before an amateur tournament that he was competing in about 12 years ago. While on the putting green with the other amateurs he happened to walk by Tiger Woods who was also prepping for the tournament and simply said, "hey, Tiger, how's it going?" No response. Tiger simply ignored him. All this time the PGA pro is still holding onto something Tiger never even knew happened because Tiger was focused.

I use these examples from the world of sports because they are easy to envision and relate to. They are also people that we get to watch at work. Think about it. What other people work in a place where the general public will pay money to watch them do their jobs. You do see this ability to focus in other professions also, especially at the highest levels, for example, Public Speakers, Stage actors, Dancers, etc. Any of you who have been in a meeting with the highest levels of corporate professionals have witnessed this ability to focus. I would say it is a more critical skill to gain success than intelligence.

How many of us have seen the most intellectually gifted from our schools or educational programs turn out as less "successful" than expected. In my opinion, it is more difficult for an intelligent person to find his/her way in this world than a less intelligent person who decides early to focus, as in following in Mom or Dad's footsteps. With early displayed intelligence comes an overwhelming number of options. And since we do not do a great job of actually preparing children for success, the more intelligent of the brood tend to demonstrate capabilities at so many things that they may not have the "need" to focus. Whereas, the potentially average student, 2nd generation cop's kid might know from a very early age that he is going to be a police officer. The first child might end up a mid-management bureaucrat while the second one, chief of police. Imagine what all of the first college graduates in families must go through in navigating all the world's options.

So, we must DECIDE our direction. We must increase our ability to FOCUS on our objectives in order to get to where we want to BE. We must demand our own focus on our goals while operating in a "multi-tasking" world. Our High Definition Vision will be key to our success in this area. Later, I will discuss the role of your HD Vision in stimulating your reticular activating system (discussed later) and how it triggers your ability to FOCUS so you can achieve your objectives. I'll get back to that as we deep-dive into the VISIONING stage of the HD Leadership Pyramism.

WYSIWYG - Vision is at the Core of HD Leadership

2008-08-15T14:56:00.001-07:00

Now that I have (hopefully) established a bit of a baseline understanding of High Definition Leadership (HDL) and the HDL Pyramism, I would like to spend some time really articulating the role each step plays in the HDL Pyramism. Instead of starting at the bottom, I will begin at the core of HDL - and that is Vision. We begin with vision because without a solid understanding of its vital role in the process the entire HDL concept could be lost.

WYSIWYG

In the modern world of texting and shortcut communication WYSIWYG means, "What you see is what you get." In the world of HDL it also means, "Where you see is where you go." Although these two interpretations may seem somewhat different I will attempt to bring them together to illustrate the role of vision in HDL.

Those of you who have participated in high-speed sporting activities will immediately relate to "where you see is where you go." Whether downhill skiing, motorcycle riding or sky-diving, you have learned (hopefully via instruction) that in order to direct your body you must first direct your eyes. It is this concept that explains why we hear of skiing accidents where someone has hit a tree. While, of course, there are trees on ski slopes, you are taught that if you find yourself heading for one, to look in the direction that you want to go - not at the tree. For some, panic sets in and this becomes impossible, therefore people hit trees while skiing.

While this phenomenon is exaggerated in the case of high speed sporting activities - it is very much the same at lower speeds, for example, have you ever been driving a car and looking at something interesting out of the side window and notice your car drifting in that direction? So, WYSIWYG is very much real in the sense of the physical sense of sight.

It is also very real in the directional sense in creating a vision for one's life. Even for those who I have mentioned earlier that "spend more time creating a vision for their wedding day" than they do for their lives, this vision is created. To say it another way, whether you actively decide where you want to go with your life or not this vision is created for your life. How many of us have seen cyclicality in our own lives or the lives of others? How many times have we seen the 3rd generation lawyer or the 3rd generation police officer? This is no accident. It occurs because WYSIWYG. On the downside, how many of us have witnessed poverty passed down from generation to generation? How many of us have seen teenage motherhood passed down from generation to generation? How many of us have said to ourselves when talking about our parents, "when I grow up, I will not be like that" and found ourselves doing the very same things that we disliked when we "grew up"? What you see is what you get! Where you see is where you go!

Oftentimes we remark that someone has "become" something despite all of life's obstacles being placed before them. We've seen people from humble beginnings achieve great success. We have seen people who have managed to escape the cycle that others have not. We have seen the 4th generation cop's kid who decided to become a doctor. This can only occur when that person decides to replace a vision that is forced upon them by life's circumstances with a vision for their life that is of their own choosing.

For many, it feels that too much life has passed them by to create a vision that is of their own choosing. Many find themselves, "stuck in a rut". They find themselves a victim of their reactions to what life has placed before them. For example, many people believe that they cannot change their career because it is what they have been doing for so long. Like it or not, it is what they know. Amazingly, we all look on in surprise and secret envy when we see someone escape their "rut" in order to pursue their dream. I have now seen it so often that it has become a cliche.

Not only is it possible to create a new Vision for your life at any time, you now have a starting point for the process. Remember, what you see is truly what you GET. Now it is time for you to decide what you want to see. Now it is time for you to DECIDE where you want to lead your life.

The next post will continue to explore the concept of vision as it relates to HDL. It will focus on FOCUS.

As always, I welcome and appreciate your feedback and commentary. For those who do not want to respond here publicly, I have also added a quicklink so you can email me. Use the button to the right that says, "contact me. You will find it below my picture.

Consequences: The Risks and Benefits of Leading Your Life VS. Living Your Life

2008-08-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have heard from more than a few people who now follow this blog, who originally had no interest in the topic of leadership that they now have a different understanding of the value of the topic. The general sentiment is that they never thought of themselves as leaders and being ‘the leader’ was never really important to them. What I hear from these folks is that the reason they sign up for the RSS feed, automatic email or bookmark this blog is because they find it provides a perspective on leadership to which they had not previously been exposed. They now see how the concept of leadership can apply to them. So, if there are others who you know who might benefit from what is shared here you might consider pointing them to the blog.

HDL is concerned with the development of your personal leadership. It shows a different way that you can transition from reactively living your life to proactively leading your life. As I have stated in the sidebar, this is stuff you don’t get in school. Unfortunately, this is stuff that you don’t get watching TV. This is also stuff you don’t get from most of your corporate training classes at the office. And yet, it is all around you demonstrated by the successful people that you admire.

An entrepreneurial CEO of a start-up company who I have been working with for a couple of years called me the other day to inform me that I ought to put a warning label on my book (yes, I am working on a corresponding book and enhancing the lecture series on this topic). I informed him that I have already written the warning because I realized that the message, while important and helpful, does come with some unintended consequences or “side-effects”. So, I should probably share that warning here.

WARNING: This book may fundamentally change how you think about living your life. Some of the unintended side effects include: 1. Feelings of short-comings and failure because you have not yet chosen to lead your life and instead chose what is misperceived as the “easier” route. 2. Transparency in viewing yourself and your relationships with others that may cause you or them great discomfort. 3. An overwhelming confidence and ability to focus and make decisions that will make others around you see you in a different light. 4. A completely different outlook on people you know, books you have read and movies you have seen that will make you fear that you have missed some useful knowledge. Making you feel that you might have to go back an repeat those experiences.

Each of the side effects has been given a name for easy reference. I have also come up with the "antidote" for each consequence that will make it easier to manage these side effects as you encounter them.

Warning 1: Feelings of short-comings and failure because you have not yet chosen to lead your life and instead chose what is misperceived as the “easier” route. I call this the Dieter’s Syndrome. One reason many people do not lose weight and keep it off is because they set up for failure from the beginning of the plan. Dieters make plans with aggressive goals that are concentrated on one area of their lives. They are often unforgiving of their own mistakes and continuously vaccilate between success and failure. Dieting is often looked at as a short-term fix that is dissacociated to a reasonably timed long-term vision. So, when they hit a “speed-bump” they allow it to become the wall that stops them. Enough of this and they train themselves that they have no self-control and resign to failure. They learn to give up before they begin.

The Antidote is to tie the short term trials to a longer term, detailed vision (HD Vision) that incorporates all aspects of your life as a whole. Life is not compartmentalizable – you have but one life to live. It requires a holistic approach to be successful. Now there will be some who will still give up before they begin in this process. But I have realized that like other things, this stuff ain’t for everybody.

Warning 2 is called the Facts Can Be Stubborn and Uncomfortable Syndrome. This occurs when you finally break through and really understand and incorporate HDL into your living plan. It provides a different perspective on the things that you see and an honesty that is difficult to hold back. Obviously, dishonesty in the form of “little white lies” makes relationships easier. Unfortunately, it is a liberally used ingredient in the glue that holds societies together. As your standards change you will be inclined to judge others against your new standards. We have often seen this in people who are new found converts to a religion. It is so powerful that it must be shared. That is not a turn on.

The Antidote is to reserve judgment. At the top of Maslow’s Pyramid is self-actualization where one displays selflessness, knowledge, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts (review HDL Pyramism post). I know I am not there yet. However, It is not dissimilar to the top of the HDL Pyramism. In our path to the top of the HDL Pyramism (Becoming) we must not judge those who don’t quite get it. Instead bring them along by sharing your thinking, explaining your thought processes and the alignment between your thoughts and your actions. This will take time. However, action and results are a better teaching tool than judgment. The skill of building alignment is critical to the success of a leader. There is an effective way to do this without judgment. If you are at all like me you will get used to explaining the difference between your observations and judgment. When we share observations others often take negative observations as judgment and positive observations as praise. Know that people can be emotionally biased when they are the subject.

Warning 3 is called the Arrogant S.O.B. Syndrome (aka A.S.S.). I joke but I think you will get it. We have all seen someone who is both very confident and very correct. Because most of us are more prone to show our shortcomings we often would rather bring this person down to our level than lift ourselves up to their level as we perceive it. It is like crabs in a barrel. They see the crab ahead of them having some success at getting out of that barrel and attempt to use the success of the crab ahead of them to pull themselves up. This causes them to actually pull that other crab back and keep him in the barrel. Now, like crabs, people also do not intentionally thwart their fellow "crabs’" success. Sometimes these examples of competitiveness with others is so engrained in our nature that we see it from an early age. Take for example the kids that make fun of the “smart” kid in class.

The Antidote is the vision for your life that you see that builds confidence in your direction. This is a case of the cure also being the “disease”. So, while you can maintain your direction and focus because you have outlined where you are going, you must articulate it to others so they have a full understanding of where you are going and enlist their support in helping you to get there. This practice is how those that you now see as leaders have become leaders.

Warning 4 is called the “man, I blew it” syndrome. This is what I hear from the people that I work with after they start to really understand and incorporate the concepts of High Definition Leadership into their daily routines. They then look back at all the things they have done and the experiences and opportunities that they have had and wish that they could re-experience those things with their “new eyes”. Or as one client likes to say, “with this program already loaded into memory”. I too have suffered from this syndrome.

The Antidote has been summed up in one of my favorite sayings that surely applies here but also applies so many places in our lives. Those of you who I’ve worked with are already one step ahead. That quote is, “measure against your designed future, not against your past.” Using the past as a yardstick will not get you any closer to your desired outcome. Too often we hear the stories about what someone should have done or could have done or where someone used to be. I call it the “high-school hero syndrome.” It can only serve to build upon an attitude of defeat. It focuses too much attention on the past and distracts from your ability to focus on where you are going. I liken it to driving to your destination while focusing your attention on the rear-view mirror. There is no way that you can avoid crashing if you give your focus to any direction that is not part of your plan.

Now that the risks of leading your life have been introduced, let’s turn to some benefits. So who can benefit from HDL? HDL is for entrepreneurs, executives, students and parents. As a matter of fact it is for everyone. It is necessary to group people under labels because people often think they are not in the target unless explicitly listed.

For entrepreneurs and executives, HDL provides a process to create the vision for your life and business with an understanding of building both together. We hear too often about people’s desperate search for work-life balance. The only reason one needs work-life balance is if work is something that is a distraction from life. This is only a symptom. We rarely see successful people with this complaint. Do you think Donald Trump is looking for work/life balance. In future posts I will get into the concept of work-life integration and how it shifts perceptions of work.

For students HDL provides a way to see the world today in the terms of the world as it is today. As stated above, we did not learn this stuff in school. School taught us how to operate within one formal system to be effective. Our current school systems were “perfected” in an industrialized era when we needed to prove we were “smart” enough to be an effective employee to produce goods. We now live in a world where there is no longer loyalty between company and employee, and where we must learn to contribute to society as an individual. No longer can we expect that going to school and getting good grades and following all the outdated rules for societal norms will provide the four bedroom home with the perfect family and the white picket fence. HDL provides a way to plan for your own future in a way that most of us never learned but many have been able to figure out.

For parents HDL provides a new perspective on how to raise your kids to do as Apple says, “Think Different”. In a recent discussion, a colleague informed me that he continually reinforces with his seven year old son the idea that he (the son) should plan on working for himself and not plan on working at someone’s company. I told him that that it is a great place to start thinking. However, I then asked him “are you looking too far out into the future for the guidance to be helpful?” How young were we when we were first asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I know I cannot remember. Besides, it did not matter because most of us never became that. The advice that I gave my colleague was to start preparing his seven year old son for his life when he becomes ten. If parents encourage their seven year old children to imagine all the details of the great life that that child would want to see when he becomes a ten year old it will hold greater meaning and therefore have a greater impact. It creates a theme for a life worth looking forward to and keeps the child focused on his upcoming successes. If this is done as a practice, the child will incorporate this HD Vision process for himself as a habit. Now, how cool would that have been if our parents thought like that? We would already be on track to greater successes than we have achieved because it would have been built on a more solid base of good habits. We would already have developed the skill of living our lives on purpose. d a morton

PS - If you have questions, comments, critiques, as always I welcome them here or feel free to hit the contact me button and send me an email.

This blog is really taking off in readership. Please do not leave the people that you know should be reading this behind. They should begin this journey here, http://hdleadership.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-title-high-definition-leadership-i.html to get the full impact.

COMING UP: I will revisit the stages of the HDL Pyramism® with a more in depth view into the core of HD Leadership - Visioning.

Stages of Elevation of the HD Leadership Pyramism (part II)

2008-07-25T11:41:00.000-07:00

The last post ended at the halfway point of the stages of elevation of the High Definition Leadership Pyramism as illustrated in JFK's leadership in regaining U.S. superiority in the space race. As a refresher the 6 stages of the HDL Pyramism are:

Deciding
Thinking
Visioning
Doing
Being
Becoming

So, let's pick up where we left off...

DOING

Once the decision is made and internalized and we have articulated our vision of what success looks like, it is time for the "Doing". At this stage of the HDL Pyramism process you would begin to do the things the person in the vision that you articulated would do. An HD leader speaks and acts in terms of the vision that he has created. He is consistent in his message and his commitment to success and will share his vision with anyone and everyone he talks to. At this stage his vocabulary and manner are consistent with that vision as articulated. His optimism is unwavering and those who knew him before will begin to notice a difference.

A person committed to a vision will never shy away from those who inquire as to the progress of his vision. At the Do stage of the HDL pyramism you will also "seek the no!". "Seek the no!", means that you will not only expect and entertain criticism, you will request it. The "no!" is the reason why you can not achieve your objective. Because of the work that you have done to this point, you will want all obstacles to be visible so you can overcome them. If you do not know why you can not be successful you risk failure due to ignorance. If you know of the things that might prevent success you have the opportunity to overcome them.

Also, at the "Doing" stage you will make intellectual and emotional connections with those who understand, appreciate and want to share in your vision. They will help to find the resources that will make you successful. They will act in the role of "followers". It is because a leader appears that followers gather. However, the HD leader leads as a shepherd, providing what is needed by his followers to achieve his success.

Now, let's examine Kennedy's "Doing" in achieving success in bringing the U.S. space program back to superiority. Kennedy deployed a great deal of our government's resources and our tax dollars to achieving success. He was often criticized for spending too much money for this meaningless pipe dream. He invested in the Apollo programs as one who would expect success would. He invested people, money and time into the improvement of the National Aeronautical Space Agency (NASA). He did the things that one who has already assumed success would do.

BEING

This stage of the HDL Pyramism is more about your state of mind and other's observation than any new action. This is where your consistent "Doing" is recognized by those around you. It is where others begin to acknowledge you as that leader that you created in your vision. It is where the transition of how you are viewed occurs. There becomes a greater expectation of your success than your failure. Your resources expand by virtue of other's belief and support of your direction.

Kennedy achieved this level with the continued ability of NASA to launch spacecraft into space and sustain them there over longer periods of time. Each mission built upon the prior mission. Knowledge of space increased at a rapid rate. Technologies were created to overcome discovered obstacles. Kennedy did not see the realization of the momentum toward the goal of superiority in the race for space because it did not happen until after he was assasinated. But, as it has been said of other leaders who have passed before their visions were realized, "He saw it first. Were it not for his already having seen it, we may never have."

BECOMING

The final stage of elevation of the HDL Pyramism process is the peak, Becoming. The becoming stage is similar to what the Buddhist call nirvana. Nirvana has been described as the state of not being, disinterested passion, nothingness. I liken this stage to nirvana because at this stage of leadership your vision is achieved and you are living it. The Doing and Being have manifested to Becoming. You are what you envisioned. Your objective is met. This is the most difficult of the stages to actually define. Because of the difficulty I often resort to an analogy that most understand very quickly. If you have ever held a conversation with someone who can truly play the piano while they are playing the piano flawlessly, you have witnessed becoming. Success at this stage is a foregone conclusion. The transition from being to become is rarely recognizable. It is subtle. It is like a child learning to read. Can we ever pinpoint the exact occassion at which we can first acknowledge that the child is no longer just sounding out words but actually reading? Obviously, Kennedy never saw his goal of the return to U.S. superiority in the space race. Yet, we now recognize it as a foregone conclusion (for now). Unlike many ascents from the being stage to the top of the HDL Pyramism, becoming this success did have a moment. That moment of becoming arrived the instant that there was, "... one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." The space program achieved success before we landed on the moon. The landing on and return from the moon was just the concrete example of a leader ahieving his objective.

Now that I have established the concept of ascending the Pyramism we will next delve into the heart of the HDL process, Vision.

As always, I welcome comments, critiques and examples of your becoming. ________________________________________________

I have mentioned to others that writing this stuff down in a way that others can really understand it is somewhat difficult for me. The ideas are so much a part of my being that I can discuss it far better than I ever write it. I feel that I might not be as clear in my writing as I would be were we having a conversation. It may lose something in the translation. That is why I ask for feedback, questions and critique. So, have at it.

Stages of Elevation of the HD Leadership Pyramism

2008-07-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

In my zest to get to the meat of this leadership exploration I have committed an error that I recognize to be common amongst those who write about leadership. I have not stated my definition of leadership. Often you will read leadership books and blogs or hear others who speak of leadership as a concept for which we are all already on the same page. We are not. So, to set the stage for this blog, I will provide my definition of a High Definition Leader. A High Definition Leader is: one who purposely and purposefully conducts his undertakings in such a way that inspires others toward positive action in the pursuit of his desired outcome. He does this by crafting and articulating a vision that is so visible that others can see it and will make extraordinary effort to make that vision a reality.

And, now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

As stated earlier, whether aware or unaware, leaders do follow a process to their success. This process can be learned and therefore taught. Once ingrained, it can be utilized to achieve successes both large and small. Today, I will convey the stages of the HD Leadership Pyramism process using an example of a successful leadership mission that we can all relate to and remember (hopefully).

The example I decided to use is from a leadership challenge that came about during the Cold War between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R (Russia). Russia leapfrogged us by putting a man into space before we could. I will use the example of John F. Kennedy's leadership in returning the U.S. back to superiority in the space race. Kennedy outlined a number of objectives for America as part of his New Frontier - eventually, folding in the reestablishment of U.S. space superiority as articulated here:

"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. "

- John F. Kennedy

Kennedy's Climb up the Pyramism
The 6 stages of the HD Leadership pyramism are deciding, thinking, visioning, doing, being, becoming. Let's examine Kennedy's climb.

Deciding
The HDL definition of deciding is making a conscious commitment to an action or a particular way of being.
Using this definition let's review Kennedy's decision. He decided that America was going to regain world superiority in the exploration of space. When he first decided he did not know how we would regain superiority . He did not know what success would look like. He just knew that it would be detrimental to this country to fall further behind in this important race.
Generally, when one decides on an objective he does not know the path he will take to successfully achieving the objective.
Thinking
Once the decision is made the critical stage of thinking ensues. I often get pushback at first introduction of this concept because most of us would like to believe that we think before we decide. Generally, that is not true. Take for example an employee who quits a job because he can no longer deal with the company. Initially, the employee will know that the company is not right for him and that he has to leave. He may not tell anyone, but he will know. He will have already decided. This decision is made consciously before he advances it to the thinking stage. The thinking stage is used to build the defense and the offense for your decision. It is where we rationalize a direction that we have chosen. Also it is where we internalize the decision, taking it from a conscious thought to a subconscious and even unconscious reality. If you think about it, you can probably come up with a number of decisions that you have made in your life before you fully built out the rationale for them. This usually happens between the time that we are conscious of our direction and the point at which we begin to tell others - shopping around the idea.
In our example, JFK decided we were going to achieve superiority. He internalized the decision and then used his advisors to help him through the rigorous analysis required to assess the how's and the why's.
We often find ourselves deciding on a particular direction and shopping that decision around to others that we trust (advisors) in order to build our confidence in that decision or to be "talked out of" an impudent choice.
Vision
Visioning is the most important and most often overlooked stage in pursuit of building a plan for success - it is the "high definition" in HDL. What I find most often is that people get caught in the "Quadrant of Activity" cycle. In this cycle people make decisions, think them through, attempt to execute them (do) in an effort to achieve success (be). Oftentimes, repeating the cycle in different areas of one's life (hence a cycle). Many look for excuses for their lack of success at this point. Often blaming outside elements or people. However, for those trapped in the "Quadrant" who find that they begin with great energy and yet lose the focus to "finish" there is hope. It is easy to lose focus when you don't have something tangible to focus on.
There is a metaphor that I often use to quickly illustrate the role of vision to those who do not understand its importance. I ask the question, "have you ever tried to put together a large jigsaw puzzle?" Most have. I then explain that planning for success in life without a vision of that success is like attempting to put together a 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle without the benefit of the box-top. If you cannot see where you are going how do you get there? How do you recognize where the metaphorical piece that you have in hand fits within your life? Without the picture of the final destination it is very difficult to achieve the goal. And, as Lewis Carroll said in Alice in Wonderland, "if you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." This is often the downfall of the "best laid plans".
Kennedy found a vision for what space superiority could look like that everyone could see - "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." The vision was so clear we could see it. It was so well articulated that we could get it. And it was so powerful that we, as a country had to achieve it.
You can break through the "Quadrant of Activity" cycle with a well-crafted, well-articulated vision for success. The more detail the vision, the greater likelihood you will attain it.
Well, unfortunately, I am long-winded and will have to examine the remaining stages of the HDL Pyramism in my next post. In the meantime I would love to hear comments on where we've gone so far. I am especially interested in your contradictory opinions. This ties into the philosophy of "seek the NO!" that we will get to in the future. What are your stories of achievement using vision?

The High Definition Leadership Pyramism

2008-07-18T15:55:00.000-07:00

The concept of the HD Leadership Pyramism can be succinctly stated, "Leaders rise higher and see things differently than they did in the past". As each of us has new experiences, those experiences shape what we perceive to be our life's opportunities. I witnessed an amazing example of this phenomenon while watching an HBO Real Sports (with Bryant Gumble) interview. Bryant was interviewing Tori Hunter. For those of you unfamiliar, Tori is a Seven time Golden Glove outfielder who now plays for the Anaheim Angels. While that is amazing enough the thing that stuck with me regarding this interview was his story. Tori Hunter was born and raised in Pine Bluff Arkansas. While growing up in Pine Bluff, Tori's main goal in life was to not get killed. Pine Bluff's per capita murder rate is 3.8 times the national average. So, this was a legitimate concern. Drugs are rampant - even hitting close to home for Tori. Although he did not recognize it at the time his father was a drug addict. Now, Tori played baseball as an outlet and was a good all-around athlete. But sports did not allay his concern for his life. It did, however, contribute greatly to his ultimate view on life. Because he was such a good athlete he was asked to join a travelling team that played in tournaments in other states. His first tournament out of state took him to New Mexico where he saw people living comfortably, with clean air and in safety. The baseball fields looked like those he had seen on TV. They even had lights for night games. Having this opportunity opened his eyes to an existence far beyond what he thought was acheivable in his life. This one experience had an amazing impact on Tori. It gave him a vision for the future that he wanted for himself. That vision helped to focus his efforts and pushed him to excel. Tori ascended from a childhood of poverty in dangerous Pine Bluff Arkansas to a mulit-million dollar professional athlete with a $90 Million contract to do what he loves to do. The Tori Hunter story exemplifies the pyramism concept beautifully. Why a pyramism? The pyramism is a combination of both the pyramid and the prism. The pyramid was selected because it quickly depicts ascension. One of the best examples of this symbolic ascension is Maslow's hierarcy of needs. Again, as one rises higher one sees things differently. The other symbol incorporated with the pyramid is the prism. It was chosen because it represents a changed view. As white light shines through a prism it is refracted into its component colors. If you have ever looked through a prism you can see how it changes your view of things. These two symbols combine to create my Pyramism. As Tori Hunter ascended to see things that he could not see before, his outlook on life changed. He developed a vision for his future that was the polar opposite from the everyday visions of his childhood. Coming up: I will illuminate the component stages of the HD Leadership pyramism (decide, think, vision, do, be, become) and demonstrate the importance of each in the progression to true leadership. As always, I appreciate your comments and questions along the way. See you soon.

Why call the blog High Definition Leadership?

2008-07-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

I decided to call my blog High Definition Leadership (HDL) based on the leadership concept that I developed over the last year while working with my coaching clients helping them to set and achieve their goals. I have developed a system and a communication process that helps them easily understand the concept. Like a system of martial arts, this system is practiced and honed over time to create the habitual mindset that is needed to become a better leader. The concept is captured in and articulated by the HDL Pyramism(r). The pyramism helps to visualize the six steps to achievement. They are Decide, Think, Vision, Do, Be and Become. I work primarily with people who are in positions of business leadership (entrepreneurs and corporate executives). However, I have found that the principals and concepts are equally useful for students interested in finding their way in life. I have also seen tremendous transformation in my work with parents - who are leaders in their own rites - influencing the future for all of us. However, I am getting way out in front of myself. All these things will be explained as I blog through the details in the coming months. I define High Definition leadership as working with and through others to achieve a desired outcome by providing a well-crafted, well articulated, clear (very detailed) vision of what the outcome looks like before the objective is pursued. Leaders who develop the ability to articulate and share such a vision in the right way will see that vision manifested through others. Leaders are not born. They become. Leaders do not have to push or bully people to achieve their goals. People line up behind HD leaders to make their vision come to life. I call this High Definition Leadership because the vision must be articulated with such great detail and specificity (definition) that people get it, want it and are inspired to make extraordinary efforts to bring the vision to life. An HD Leader inspires others to work to achieve his vision by crafting it in such a way that creates visible pictures and feelings of accomplishment before any effort toward the objective has even begun. Since vision is at the heart of the HDL concept I will be blogging a great deal about the role vision plays in dictating life's direction. However, over the next few missives I want to set the ground work. I will discuss the HDL Pyramism. I'll start with the basic idea, cover each step in general and lay a firm foundation. I welcome you along on this journey and I appreciate your comments and questions along the way. See you soon.

My First Blog - Getting Started

2008-06-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

I'm finally ready to add blogging to my list of new experiences. The only problem is "how do I get started?". Today I want to talk about 'getting started'. Sometimes the most difficult part of any task is getting it started. The reason this is difficult is because, scientifically speaking, we have to overcome inertia. Have you ever noticed how that difficult task that you really did not feel like starting was a breeze once you gave it the attention that it deserved? It is hardest getting started. Then you wonder, once you are done, why it seemed like it would be so difficult. I have developed a fool-proof way for me to get past the "getting started" difficulty. What I do is I tell myself that I am just going to pull out my materials (in my case a computer) and jot down a few notes on what I think this project is all about. What I inevitably find is that the writing begins to focus my mind on my goal. This initial "note-jotting" becomes my work product that is the catalyst for getting the entire project started. It usually begins with a few stray thoughts (kinda like this blog) and ends up as an outline that turns into my final project. Now, let's see if I can apply this process to blogging and get this process started.