Unfiltered Hindsight

“Experience is a jewel, and it had need be so, for it is often purchased at an infinite rate.”

-- Wm. Shakespeare

This weekend marks four weeks without a full-time job. It is not “retirement,” since new and existing side hustles move to the fore, but it’s the first month in 40 years not working for The Man. This unfiltered hindsight led to a dozen retrospective reflections, which I dubbed “pearls,” shared on social media, four at a time, but here they are in toto, with backstories.    

1. If it’s your meeting, say two things from the jump: Why and how long.

Learned this one from the Kansas Leadership Center. I was fortunate to be among a group of guinea pigs, cloistered for a week in 2008 at a church camp in Hesston, when they test drove their ideas. As effective as it is simple. Frame it up. Keeps you from chasing squirrels.

2. Industry awards and participation in leadership programs are not merit-based.

Early on, this one was a head scratcher. Then I caught on. Participation trophies, plaques, and certificates on parchment suitable for framing can be hugely effective tools in the management of human resources, but they are also very often the essence of system politics.

3. You can’t force workplace camaraderie.

Keep your ropes courses and awkward ice breakers. Start with positive vibes between two or more people, then let nature take its course. Developing this skill also moved me out of innate introversion.

4. The development of good listening skills is a game changer.

Picked these up as a journalist. Had to. Interpreting the responses from those I interviewed was the job. Enough with the interrupting, poor eye contact, and failing to set aside one’s biases. Have some respect.

5. Define the problem, visualize solutions, then act.

Cannot tell you how many times I found myself in situations where this sequence was conducted exactly opposite. Fire, aim, ready.

6. If you think you are the smartest person in the room, get more people in the room.

Learned this one, not in the workplace, but at home from my wife, who models humility in effective leadership.

7. Take every hour of vacation the system offers.

From a mentor who tied it to self-confidence. Another former colleague, whose previous experience involved first responder work would often say, “There are no leadership development emergencies.”

8. Plan your work, work your plan.

Got this one from Gov. Bill Graves, who got it from his father, who built a successful trucking company from experience managing logistics in WW2.

9. The best mentoring occurs organically. (see also #3). The passing on of experience and wisdom tends to be inter-generational, but it need not be. I learn a lot about shifting societal and cultural norms from friends and colleagues younger than me.

10. When someone offers to buy your coffee or lunch, don't argue, say “thank you.”

You could arm wrestle over it, but don’t. Without saying it, often without thinking it, it’s a tool in building and nurturing relationships.

11. Keep Boards of Directors thinking lofty/visionary.

It is not their fault. Micro-management stems from personal experience. “Here’s what I did. You should do the same thing.” Also, imparting a deep and meaningful understanding of the terms “governance” and “fiduciary” will help inoculate from future headaches.

12. The world does not get up in the morning thinking about you.

Also from Bill Graves, for whom I managed message and perception. He would often say, “the people of Kansas don’t get up every morning thinking about their governor.”

As always with this column, judge for yourself the luster of these pearls. That admonition actually traces upstream to the one jewel that has become my touchstone.

Question everything.