{"id":13899,"date":"2017-09-07T23:56:20","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T06:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=13899"},"modified":"2017-09-08T10:05:40","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T17:05:40","slug":"i-am-a-hedgehog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/i-am-a-hedgehog\/","title":{"rendered":"I am a Hedgehog!"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Simple Truths Good-to-great leaders understand three simple truths: \u00a0 If you begin with the \u201cwho,\u201d rather than the \u201cwhat,\u201d you can more easily adapt to a changing world. \u00a0 If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away. If you have the wrong people, it doesn\u2019t matter whether you discover the right direction\u2014you still won\u2019t have a great company. Great vision without great people is irrelevant<\/em>.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

I can remember over 10 years ago, when I first read Good to Great <\/em>by Jim Collins.<\/em> I had received this book with a red cover and black letters in my SWAG bag at a corporate event. I was a young business professional who had carved out her path and wanted so earnestly to make her own pathway forward. Many of the principles and truths outlined in the book were so motivating and aspirational leadership objectives. As I re-read this book, I felt challenged in a new way as a leader. My career is not in the same place as it was when I first read this book. \u00a0Fast forward to where I am today. I have seen the ins and outs of business as well as the highs and lows of leadership. It goes without saying that leadership in any capacity is not easy. It takes work. By work I mean you must have an intentional foot forward. Being honest and upfront is the top priority. It sets the tone for how your organization will align and follow suit with your vision. By no means do I want to minimize the complexity of leadership. It is not as simple as books or people make it seem. It takes work and motivation to continue. Catching hold of a company\u2019s vision and working diligently to propel it forward is a lofty goal.<\/p>\n

In my experience, it is all about investment.\u00a0 I am not solely referring to monetary gains but in a solidified commitment to see\/set the \u00a0vision, implement strategy and invest in the people who work day in and day out to make it happen. All of us in leadership bear the responsibility to forge the pathway forward and ignite the passion while encouraging the fortitude of those who catch the vision and desire to see it through. I could write for days on what it means to be a \u201cLevel 5\u201d leader. What I do know is that it takes a special individual to understand their leadership capacity and furthermore, invoke the passion of others that permeates the organization in a way that motivates them to see and seize opportunities.<\/p>\n

Despite what professional sector you find yourself in, it is imperative that you understand the core and basic governance for successful leadership. Many people settle for what comes easy. Their core strength or competency is what motivates them. Few people allow themselves to be challenged and stretched.\u00a0 Reading the Jim Collins text, although I have already read the first piece, I am even more invigorated to expand the ideals, concepts and methods of how I lead. I am in a new space and building a new team. I am elated at the opportunity but humbled by the fact that this is not a simple endeavor. My selections and how I choose to lead set the tone for our future and the future of this platform.<\/p>\n

As I was reading, I came across this text which stood out to me. \u201cMany companies think that putting their best people in bad situations will help turn the bad situation around. While this sometimes works to everyone\u2019s advantage, managers who do so fail to grasp the fact that managing your problems can only make you good. Building opportunities is the only way to become great<\/em>.\u201d[2]<\/a> In my tenure in corporate, I cannot tell you how many times this quote has reigned true! I have had management advocate for problem resolution as a professional growth opportunity. Unfortunately, I have colleagues who have been pigeon holed as “the solutions fix it managers”. Meaning that, they only are put on sinking and problem projects. For one, I have seen this work against the organization. Their morale is lost in the shuffle, and secondly, they never discover their greatness because it is measured by how well they fix or resolve something that was already set down a failed pathway.<\/p>\n

So why am I a \u201cHedgehog\u201d? It has taken years to come to this resolve but I have adopted the simplification of idea way of life in business. Meaning, I am fully aware that life and this world is complex; however, I do not strive to solve every complexity. Instead I choose to align my passion with a set of goals or metrics that will produce forward progress in the near and long term. I remove all other \u201cnoise\u201d which does not pertain to our short or long term goal. This is a fine balance because life and business is fluid. Things are not always linear in nature. So you have to be perceptive and flexible.<\/p>\n

In our past spring term, we read Herman Millers CEO’s approach to business. He stated that Maintaining Momentum was so important. I believe Jim Collins would assert that it is the momentum of vision and opportunity and not of the mundane. To maintain something that will not propel you forward is useless. As leaders, we have to take the time and space to understand ourselves, the context from which we are called to lead and the position we have graciously been placed in. There is no simple formula that we can follow. I do believe we must be vigilant in our pursuit of purpose and caring for those we have been entrusted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] <\/a>\u00a0David Campbell .\u00a0Summary: Good to Great Summarized for Busy People Kindle Edition<\/em>. Wilson Publishers, 2013.Kindle Location, 89.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> IBID. Kindle Location 118.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Simple Truths Good-to-great leaders understand three simple truths: \u00a0 If you begin with the \u201cwho,\u201d rather than the \u201cwhat,\u201d you can more easily adapt to a changing world. \u00a0 If you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away. If you have the wrong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[267],"class_list":["post-13899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-collins","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13899"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13940,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13899\/revisions\/13940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}