Today I had the unique opportunity to build into two very different and, at the same time, eerily similar CEO’s in training. Huh?
One just bought a piece of the pie from his long standing owner/boss. He came into our session with passion and clarity that I’ve not seen from him prior. He was “en fuego.” After he finished his top 5 priorities we paused and his old boss and I gave him some feedback to improve his performance. He fought the feedback, initially. He wanted to prove he was right. I LOVE it when this happens…
It takes me right back to Mr. Gillispie in 6th grade. Huh?
Mr Gillispie was my 6th grade teacher and I liked him. He told my Mom and Dad that Chester was a leader but that I had a fatal flaw. I was more interested in proving Mr. Gillispie wrong than I was in learning anything. As I listened to our young CEO, I saw me. Gradually, slowly, and with a couple searing stories, he let the feedback in. He’s going to be a good one. Correction, he already is.
Later in the day, I visited another future CEO of another all together different system. This one is learning to lead the Chairman the same way they lead their team. This CEO is comfortable in their own skin, when they are with their team. When they face their Chairman, however, they look and sound a little different, a little more tentative. They think too much about how to say what they have to say, instead of just saying what they’re thinking. Make sense?
This “masking” is an energy drain. It just is. Today, we worked on challenging the Chairman as if we already were the CEO. Today we began to build some “shoot in our eyes.” Very cool.
Every client shares many similarities and countless qualities that make them unique. Remembering a little Tolstoy here, might be helpful. Long ago, as he wrote from a prison cell in the middle of nowhere freakin’ Russia, he threw out a bit of magic. Here it is. Do NOT miss this. This could be HUGE. He said…
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
What are you allowing to drain you of your vitality?
What people do you feel you must put on the “mask?”
Why? WHY? WHY?
Tell me more, my friend.
Tell me more…
BUILT TO LEAD 