In a conversation with a new colleague last week, she asked me a great question: “What are you noticing about great leaders these days?”
My mind hopped to the research I’ve been doing for my forthcoming book on ELASTIC leadership, but then three things came out of my mouth, based instead on the work of inspiring leaders I’m collaborating with right now:
Continue reading “Great Leaders Right Now”Last week, I had the opportunity to speak to a large room full of people.
This would be the most boring opening sentence ever, if it weren’t for the fact that I haven’t delivered an in-person keynote for two and a half years.
I was speaking on ELASTIC leadership, which is also the topic of my forthcoming book. This was my first time speaking on this topic after having written the book (the manuscript is with the editors now). Prior to writing the book, I had addressed the topic many times in the previous year, in digital gatherings as both a speaker and facilitator.
Continue reading “Test it in Multiple Formats”As I explore the metaphor of elastic leadership with groups, they continue to find new ways to apply it. One participant recently observed that if an elastic is stretched hard in one direction, it doesn’t have much give available to be stretched in other directions. Sounds familiar, right? We can only stretch so far before we snap, and the demands on our stretchiness feel cumulative.
Continue reading “Zero Sum Adaptability Thinking”Sometimes the best way to tackle a problem is to come at it sideways rather than head on.
Four recent examples have highlighted the usefulness of this reminder for me:
If you’re feeling a bit stuck today, consider multiple ways you or your group could tackle your challenge indirectly. Instead of skirting the issue, you may find you are effectively solving it instead.
Continue reading “When Results Aren’t Your Goal”If you’ve been following along in this space, you’ll know I’m a fan of adaptability. We need it, we can learn it, and it can energize us.
But I’m learning its limits.
Having been playing with the metaphor of elasticity recently to capture dimensions of adaptable leadership, it occurs to me that (unlike elastics!) humans have the ability to warn others, if not to predict, when they are about to snap. And “snapping” does not only look like breaking down or falling apart. It might look more like simply being unable to fulfill your intended purpose as well as you otherwise could have, or even not at all.
Continue reading “The Limits of Adaptability”