Unavailing Logic

  If you attend church, you may recognize the title of this post as lyrics from a Hillsong Christian worship song. Don't worry, I'm not turning this into a religious blog, but my faith is a part of who I am and has contributed to my belief structure and attitude. What you may not know is that I am a bassist and I volunteer regularly on my church's worship team, so I've played this song dozens of times.  Recently, someone asked me the old question, "What do you do for a living?". I answered his question. I told him I worked as an IT Solutions Architect and was in a pre-sales role selling datacenter and security solutions to our clients. His response, "oh, you're in sales". No. Technically I'm "pre-sales". Then he says, "so you work on computers?". No, I create solutions for clients. As the conversation continued, I got this knot deep in the pit of my stomach because none of those things are what I really am. It's what I...

  My Dad was a salesman. He could sell anything to anyone. But sales is a rough game. When times are good they are really good. But when times are bad, they are really bad. Dad constantly listened to motivational tapes (remember tapes?). One of his favorite motivational speakers was Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. Dr. Peale had a gravely voice and an excellent understanding of how to use his powerful voice to convey a message. One of the things Dr. Peale preached was "Positive Mental Attitude" or what he abbreviated as "PMA". My Dad adopted this mindset, and constantly reminded me that my attitude dictated my altitude. That whatever I thought, that's what I would become.  Recently I was informed that my job was being eliminated and as I type this, I am jobless. It's scary. Sure, I have some money set back, but it won't last long and starting all over again is a tough pill to swallow. I have a kid in college. I have a wife. A house. Cars. You get the picture. B...

Several years ago I was called to my bosses office and given an ultimatum. Fire one of my direct reports, or be accountable for their actions. If you've been in a leadership role before, you may have encountered a situation where it's "them or me" and you had to make a tough decision. But as a servant leader, part of your job is to lay yourself on the line for your team, and that's exactly what I did. In this particular case, it wasn't a matter of the individual not doing their job, it was the manner in which they were treating those they interacted with. Ultimately the fix was easy. A simple heart to heart chat to make the individual aware of their actions and discover the source. That individual continued to work for the organization and is still there long after I moved on. Who determines if an employee is underperforming? The customer? Leadership? Peers? The answer is clear, it should be the team leader. If goals, objectives, roles, and responsibilities ar...

Robert K. Greenleaf is credited as the father of Servant Leadership. While Greenleaf certainly brought the concept of servant leadership to the forefront with his 1970 essay The Servant as Leader , he did not create the concept of servant leadership. There have been several historically significant servant leaders over the years. Two that come to mind are Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. To understand what made them servant leaders, let's take a look at the traits of a servant leader: Listening Empathy Healing Awareness Persuasion Conceptualization Foresight Stewardship Commitment to the growth of people Building community If you have even a modest knowledge of history, you can see how the two men were servant leaders. While this blog does not have a religious focus, my Christian faith is built on servant leadership. Jesus was the epitome of a servant leader. So concerned with the well being of others that he allowed himself to be crucified for them. I suspect some of yo...

Back in 2009 I traveled to New York City to study at the American Management Association. It was fairly early in my management career and I thought I was a "big shot" getting to go to NYC and learn management. My class was mostly entry level managers who had never held a leadership role or taken any other leadership training. The instructor had us introduce ourselves and when it came to me, I mentioned that I'd had Six Sigma Team Leader and Total Quality Management training and that I had become a trainer on those subjects for my company. At break the instructor pulled me aside and told me that I was probably in the wrong class as it was for people with no previous management experience. As any great leader does, he recognized my knowledge and skill and put me to use as a sort of co-instructor. We had a great week of class, and the instructor took extra time with me to give me instruction he wasn't giving the rest of the class. One of the things he told me was, ...