People Love To Learn Why

Do this, finish that, task, assignment, deadline – that is the life of most people in organizations.  There is lots doing, but not much context. 
 
In other words, most employees know what they’re doing and how they’re supposed to do it, but there’s an undeniable void when it comes to the biggest question of them all: WHY?
 
THE WHY IS CRITICAL!
 
Asking “why” is how we determine intent. But, probably most importantly it is how we derive and attribute meaning to any and all of our actions.
 

“To get the most from their employees, leaders should do all they can to make this “why” clear.” – Dave and Wendy Ulrich
 
In the workplace, knowing why your work matters is at the forefront of employee engagement.
 
If an employee has a firm grasp on how their work affects the end result – be it a specific project, the effect on the customer, the company’s bottom line, etc. – there is a much larger scope attached to the work they do. “Why” is a motivator to be more productive or to be more conscientious.  It attaches value above and beyond the work itself.
 
WHAT DOES KNOWING THE WHY DO?
Whether it’s a specific assignment or a company-wide policy, letting employees know the “why” behind their actions accomplishes two very important things:
1. It adds intangible value to their actions, allowing employees to see themselves as contributing to goals of the whole.
 
2. It gives employees a sense of being informed, privy to the same knowledge as company higher-ups and decision makers. Knowing “why” is to be part of the “in crowd.”
 
No one likes to be kept in the dark. Informing employees

• Why a project is so important,
• Why their actions affect the customer,
• Why you’ve chosen one vendor over another,
• Why office policy is in place, etc.,
illuminates their entire position.   It helps to validate their contribution to the company.
 
Giving your employees the why’s gives them context for their actions.  It helps them understand their impact on the organization, the team and even customers.  In the end, it makes everyone more effective.
 
How do you share the whys?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

The Twisted Definition Of Accountability

When did the term “accountability” take on a negative connotation? When did being “held accountable” become the new vocabulary for placing blame?
 
It seems like this definition has become tainted.  It’s as if accountability is something nobody wants anymore – and who would want to embrace accountability when it’s so often associated with mistakes, negligence, or outright devious behavior?
 

For many people, accountability is synonymous with suffering the consequences of unmet expectations. – Roger Connors
 
ACCOUNT-A –WHAT?

Accountability: The acceptance of responsibility and liability,
 
But, rooting the term in negativity is extremely counterproductive. If accepting responsibility means voluntarily putting your head on the chopping block, why would anyone want to step into a leadership role?

Apathy at work

This raises a very important issue, and offers a logical explanation for workplace complacency, for the desire of many employees to remain in neutral positions. No one wants to be singled out for failure.
 
So now what?
 
IT’S TIME TO TAKE BACK ACCOUNTABILITY!
The reality of accountability is not a mechanism for placing blame, but rather a privilege of influence! If you are “accountable,” it means the ball is in your court – you determine the direction of a project or policy. The outcome is your responsibility, and this is a powerful position to have!
 
Because of the negative connotations people attribute to this kind of accountability, they only see the potential for blame, and not the potential for empowerment. While the possibility of receiving criticism remains, there is also tremendous opportunity for praise and acclaim.
 

Establishing a framework of accountability is the lowest cost, most practical, and most productive method for building trust and increasing performance- Mike Myatt
 
Use accountability as recognition and reward:

1. When giving accountability for an issue, task or project, make sure that there is the requisite authority
2. Make sure that everyone knows when Sally is accountable for the outcome, she is also in charge of who works on the project, where time is allocated, the budget for it, etc.
3. Make sure leaders are available to those with specific accountabilities to coach, counsel and assist in being successful
 
 
Instead of seeing accountability as the route to being blamed for failures, we must see it as the path to being celebrated for success.
If this were the case, perhaps more employees (from entry-level to upper management) would be more enthusiastic about taking on new projects, about volunteering ideas, and about embracing leadership roles.
 
This change must begin with the way we think, as well as the way we speak. We must reclaim the term “accountability” for positive use; only then will the prospect of increased responsibility serve to inspire and empower employees to achieve great things.


Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Does Anyone Read Your Message? 4 Tips For Making Your Info Stand Out

We live in a time of information overload. Millions of people spend every waking moment accessing

• Twitter feeds,
• Online news outlets,
• Hours upon hours of video covering every subject under the sun…
• Billboards advertising,
• Signage on benches
• Policies posted in the workplace
• Even TV’s in elevators and gas/petrol pumps
– there is data to take in at every turn!
 
Sometimes this overload results in an actual reduction of the amount of information we process.
We see so much every single day, we can’t possibly read it all, and as a result, many people don’t even try.
 
There are strategies, though, that can help make your message stand out from the crowd.
 

If you’re not differentiating yourself, your message will probably go ignored.
 
Here are a few tips to make your message break through the noise:
 
1.    Avoid the “Wall of Text”
 
One of the fastest ways to turn someone away from an article, blog, or even posted signage is with too much info in too little space. Try using:
 
• Interesting formatting
• S p a c e to break up content
• “Quotes”
• Pictures
• Text styling
to break things up in a logical way.
 
A massive of block of text seems awfully daunting to the casual reader.
 
Be aware of the rhythm of the words on the page – don’t just ramble on without taking a “breath.”
 
2.    Grab the Reader’s Attention
 
Whether it’s a clever image, an enticing headline, or a snappy opening paragraph, grabbing the reader’s attention right away well help ensure they make it through the bulk of the content.
 
Depending on your medium (print, web, billboard, posted office policy, etc.), different methods will be better suited for grabbing a potential reader’s attention. Think about what entices you to look further into a given piece of information, and use this insight to deliver eye-catching information.
 
3.    Stay Relevant
 
If content wanders off course, so will the reader’s mind.
 
Stick to the point, whatever that may be. If the purpose is to entertain, don’t get bogged down in minutia that will bore the reader. If the purpose is to inform, stick to the information you need to convey, and beware of trailing off into unnecessary details.
 
4.    Make it Easy to Find
 
Clear labeling goes a long way.
 
This goes for everything from email subjects to sections in a newspaper, posted signs to assembly instructions. If you’re posting information to a blog, make sure the blog link is obvious on your home page. Post signs at eye-level in high traffic areas. If your information is going into a larger work, make sure it’s going in the proper, clearly labeled section.
 
If someone needs/wants your information, you want them to be able to access it quickly and easily – if it’s too much of a hassle, most readers will look elsewhere – or forego the information entirely.
 
What good is information if no one stops to read it? If you aren’t making the effort to separate your message from the wave of words the average person encounters every day, it will likely get lost somewhere in the flood.
 
Take the time to carefully craft your messages. Be conscious of how and where you are presenting them to your audience. Build the message (and associated presentation) the way you think your targets want to see them!
 
People DO take in a ton of information every day. Leverage these four tips to make sure that yours gets picked out of the bunch!

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Leadership and Passion

CAN YOU LEAD OTHERS WITHOUT PASSION?  
 

If someone  does not love what they do, get energized by developing other and is always looking for the next challenge are they a leader or just taking up space? Occupying a position that might be better suited for someone that really….cares.

We all have bad days. Moments when we would rather throw the brick through the window than have

One
more
meeting….but

As leaders aren’t we more than that?

There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it’s the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessperson.”— Anthony Robbins

Can we ask the people we work with to be

ALL IN

if we can’t give it100% each and every time?

Probably not.  Leadership isn’t just an activity or a title.  Its a responsibility.  

The people on your team are watching you.

Who are you going to be?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

The Big Employee Engagement Oversell

Employee engagement is not a silver bullet.  It is not the “wonder pill” that will magically transform a failing or floundering organization into a profit-making powerhouse.  Honestly, there is really nothing out there like that.  Really.  Nothing. 

Employee engagement is one of the most powerful tools to drive organizational performance as a part of an overall strategy.  It is  and can never be the answer.  For too long, consulting companies have sold employee engagement as the pathway to understand all that ails them and lead them to the promised land of high performance.  Those companies have not been honest.
 
In the seminal book about Employee Engagement, “First Break All the Rules” Curt Coffman and Marcus Buckingham outlined a method to understand the gap between current and high performance.  It was a powerful measuring tool.  But, just like the MRI, CatScan and EKG, it can only read the issues.  It can not fix or even really diagnose.  There is not one part of the employee engagement toolbox that can improve organizational performance by itself.  Not one.
 
THE THREE BIG REASONS EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT ISN’T WORKING FOR YOU
 
1. “DOING ENGAGEMENT” AS A SEPARATE INITIATIVE.
Survey, manager training, action planning…the mantra of employee engagement.  Focus on these things, empower your managers and poof your organization will magically be transformed.  Uh, no that is an epic fail in the realm of organizational change.
 
• Managers aren’t natural students.  They aren’t going to learn about engagement if it doesn’t help them NOW.  Manager want information that will impact their team’s performance and help them reach their goals.  Doing action plans without a tie to the organization is not going to work.
• Managers are   BUSY and if engagement is handled this way it is just another thing to do.  Put at the bottom of the 1,000 item long to do list.
 
 
2. EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT SURVEYS ARE NOT ACTIONABLE
Unfortunately, many survey questions that are asked on surveys are not actionable by managers and team leaders.
 
“My senior leaders model the behaviors in our corporate values” – Excellent question and gives great information for a senior leader.  But what difference does that make to an employee.  How will it make their life at work better?  In short, it won’t.
 
Engagement questions should be thought provoking and interesting.  But they MUST be able to impacted by the front line manager.  If they can’t have an impact it leads to them being frustrated and employees not seeing any impact of giving their input.

3. THERE IS NO OVERALL STRATEGY   TO WEAVE ALL THE “PEOPLE INITIATIVES” INTO A COHESIVE PLAN. WORST OF ALL, NONE OF THEM TIE TO ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS.

Career development – great for employees’ growth
High potential program – excellent way to prepare for future leadership
Employee engagement – superior measure of employee passion
 
Each of these programs are outstanding. They enable a well developed workforce that is poised to take on new challenges and step up when leadership needs require…if that is what your organization needs.  The starting place for any new employee/people program initiative should be –
 
• What is the goal of this?
• How does it tie to our current or future business/organizational goals.  
• How does tho fit into our already existing “people programs”

Programs that are initiated without some tie to improving organizational goals will be seen as “busy work” or will be put on the very very bottom of the list of to-do’s.
 
If people programs are not woven together they can’t be leveraged to make cumulative goals.  If they aren’t integrated they can be confusing for managers to explain, hard for employees to use and expensive for the organization to run (duplication of effort and excessive bureaucracy).
 
Employee engagement as a part of an overall strategy tied to business goals can be very powerful. Engagement done on an island can cause more problems than solve. Which one is your organization doing?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Leadership Follies – Doing Is Not Developing

Do you wonder why the folks that report to you rely on you to solve their problems?  Probably because you always do.  That is great if you are a parent or the star of a reality TV show called “Problem Solver”.  But, as a leader having people rely on you to solve their problems creates a cycle of dependency.  That isn’t leadership that is enabling bad behavior.  Want to create leaders? Start with developing accountability

DEVELOPING ACCOUNTABILITY

We are inundated with stimuli.  With all the tweets, IM’s, emails, phone calls and “drop-ins” it is hard to think straight let alone get anything done.  More often than not, we simply react to questions or issues that are brought to our attention.  It is easier to do that than reflect and ask questions.  But in order to develop leaders on our teams, we must stop doing for people and start expecting them to do.  Let’s look at how to encourage your team to develop this muscle
John brings a problem to you. It is urgent and needs to be dealt with RIGHT NOW.

• Thank John for coming to you.
• Ask him “Why is this issue occurring?”  Follow that up with one or two other why questions to get to the real issue
• Once the real issue is uncovered, ask him –
◦  ”What is the outcome you want?” or
◦ “What would success look like” or
◦   “What would happen if you did nothing”
• Finally, ask him
◦ “How would you make [the outcome he stated previously] happen? or
◦ What is the process you’d use to make that happen?
• Help him tweak the process/solution he suggested but unless people’s lives are in danger or some other safety issue could occur, do not give him the answer EVEN IF YOU KNOW IT.
The last thing you need to do is to encourage him to go out and implement his solution, even if you’re not 100% it will work.

ENCOURAGING FAILURE

“It is better to try and fail than not to try at all” – Henry Ford

Don’t shield the people on your team from failure.  That is not going to help them grow or learn.  Failure is one of the greatest tools for people to understand what to do and not to do.  Failure avoidance only causes us to limit ourselves.  It stifles our innovation and creativity.

Push the people on your team to implement their own solutions.  Of course they should do their due diligence, but it’s critical that they are coming up with and implementing their ideas.  Whether the solution is successful or not, they will learn.  It will foster growth.

GIVING AWAY RESPONSIBILITY
Once people start implementing their own solutions and coming to you less to solve their problems, start giving them more responsibility or authority.  This doesn’t mean that you should abdicate your role or stop overseeing things.  Instead, it is recognizing their growth and rewarding them.  As a leader, your primary roles are :

• Develop other leaders
• Ensure people understand the impact they have on gaining and retaining customers

The more you responsibility you can give to your team, the less they will rely on you to solve al their problems.  This will allow you to focus on leading, finding innovative ways to serve your customers, or develop yourself.

As leaders, the worst thing that we can do for our teams is to solve all their problems for them.  It makes them dependent on you and limits their growth.

How do you encourage accountability?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Authenticity – There Is No Faking Real Leadership

“No one man can, for any considerable time, wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which is the true one.” -Nathaniel Hawthorne
 
You can learn how to be a leader. You can grow into one. You can transform your opinions and worldview, hone your skills, build your confidence and compassion, share your knowledge – you can do all of these things to become a true leader, but you can’t fake it. You can’t fake it at all.
 
Authenticity is sometimes overlooked in the discussion of what makes great, inspirational leaders, but it is never ignored. Even if we aren’t aware of it, authenticity is a quality everyone looks for in a leader – and in a general way, a quality we look for in all people.

By definition, you can’t fake authenticity. To be “authentic” is the very antithesis of fakeness – it means doing and saying things because you believe in them from the bottom of your heart.
 
A lack of authenticity (which by itself is a characteristic of a bad leader) is something you can spot from a mile away. Inauthentic leaders are the people who bark orders but never set foot in the trenches, the people who want authority for appearance and status, instead of a noble cause like driving innovation or problem solving.
 
It’s more than that, though – it’s not that leaders who lack authenticity are necessarily selfish or bad, it’s that by and large, nobody wants to follow them.
 
Instead of leaders who aren’t helping or inspiring their teams, you have “leaders” who are ignored – and if the leader is ignored, what’s the point of having one?
 
On the other hand, truly authentic leaders often become leaders by default. Their authenticity often places them in leadership roles – people recognize their passion and honesty, and naturally gravitate to them.

There are no tricks to being an authentic leader. Instead, you just have to be authentic.

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

What If Organization Change Would Work This Way?

As a consultant, I have seen organizational change around business downturns implemented in the same fashion over and over again – with very similar results. For the most part, it is done in a stealthy kind of way: lots of decisions made behind closed doors, sprung on employees at the last possible minute…then those very same employees are supposed to be okay with the change, and work even harder.
 
That is a recipe for failure. Not only does the change fall short of the intended results, it makes matters worse.
 
I’m no Harvard MBA, so I may not know the “right” answer…but I have seen the wrong answer often enough to know there must be a different way.
 

What if you implemented a downturn-related organizational change in a way that was not only more honest, but treated employees like partners and adults?
 
1. LET PEOPLE KNOW.
Don’t yell fire, but be honest when things aren’t looking so good.  At least make sure stakeholders understand the urgency behind the change, or why drastic measures are necessary.  Yes, some will want to abandon ship if things aren’t going well – but you don’t need those kinds of employees anyway; they’re not dedicated to your organization and probably aren’t really willing to put in the effort to make it successful.
 
2. ASK FOR HELP. 
Once they know there’s a problem, see if anyone has a solution. Employees working in the trenches may have ideas and strategies to help weather the downturn and even become more effective, efficient, and profitable. Getting them involved in setting the company back on its feet may even help them feel more invested and committed.
 
3. COMMUNICATE. 
It doesn’t mean that you have to tell everyone everything, but you do have to be forthright and honest about what’s happening and what will happen. As decisions are made and plans are formed, be clear with those involved about how they will be affected. Let them know what changes they can expect, and how they can help make those changes more effective. Doing this builds trust that will come in handy when it’s time to make sacrifices.
 
4. MAKE SOME SACRIFICES.
Whether that means declining a bonus for the upcoming year or some other visible action, demonstrate your own willingness to sacrifice for the organization’s success. When leaders show they’re able to tighten their belts, personally, it’s easier for employees to swallow their own bitter pills.
 
5. REWARD ANYONE THAT HELPS.
Employees that stick by the company through difficulty, and pitch in to get back in the black, should get a piece of the pie that’s left. Give back to those that make the effort to implement strategies that save the company, and they’ll keep coming up with company-saving ideas.
 
How does your organization “do” change?  What’s the best way to ensure people own it and embrace it?
 
Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Leadership Lessons From My First Bad Boss

People, on average, work for between 3 to 5 really bad bosses or managers (not a scientific fact, just based on my nonscientific study of asking people I know). Each one has their own unique qualities that make them awful. The important thing to learn from them is how not to treat people and how not to lead.
 
I learned some very important lessons from my very first bad manager. Although there were probably hundreds, there were three that have stuck with me until today.
 
TAKING CREDIT FOR OTHER PEOPLE’S WORK IS BOTH UNETHICAL AND JUST PLAIN MEAN.
 
As a recent college grad, I had ideas about everything, wanted to do a great job, and prove my worth.  On my first project, a colleague and I revamped the process getting new consultants on-boarded from two weeks to 2 days.
 
• Saved the company thousands of dollars per new hire
• Clients got consultants that were able to impact projects much faster.

It made such an impact that a few key clients wanted to hear about how our organization made this happen.
 
My boss asked us to put together a presentation detailing our solution and review it with her. We did.
 
She asked us to write out Speaker’s notes “to help us when we get nervous during he presentation. We did.
 
The following week she delivered our presentation to the client in a meeting she had set up. We weren’t invited. During the meeting she did not mention that her employees came up with the ideas. In fact, she said she did all of it.
 
She was promptly given accolades and the opportunity to work on a big new client effort. The new client wanted her to implement a process to speed up on boarding. Since she hasn’t done the previous work herself, it didn’t go well. She was shocked when my colleague and I refused to help her.
 
Moral – Don’t take credit for work that isn’t your own. Someday someone will ask you do something similar. You will fail and no one will want to help you figure it out. 
 
ASKING SOMEONE FOR THEIR OPINION AND THEN TELLING THEM THAT IT’S WRONG DOESN’T MAKE SENSE
 
At our team meetings, our boss would regularly ask our opinions about her ideas or approaches to solve problems.  If we had opinions that didn’t agree with hers, she would tell us that our opinions were wrong. Not that she disagreed, but that we were wrong. She would then spend the rest of the meeting commenting on why our opinion was not correct.  After a few meetings, we stopped giving our opinion all together.
 
Moral – if you are asking for input, you can’t disagree with everything that is different than what you think is right. That’s not leadership that just proves you are insecure. 
 
LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT BUILDING PEOPLE UP NOT BREAKING THEM DOWN.
Linda was notorious for dressing people down in public. She wasn’t a yeller, but would talk about mistakes you made to everyone in the office…while you were sitting there.
 
When I confronted her about it, she said she was trying to motivate us. “If you stop making mistakes, I will stop making fun of you.”
 
What? That works for grade school friends. But, doing that will make adults refuse to try anything that might lead to ridicule. It will END innovation.
 
Our team turned over 100% in 8 months.  Linda resigned.
 
Moral – Leading is about treating people BETTER than they expect.
 
I learned valuable lessons about how NOT to treat people. Linda made me a better leader and really appreciate the folks that I had the privilege to lead.
 
Working for her helped me see:

Leadership is about the difference you can make FOR people and reach results in the process.
 
Sadly, she was not the worst manager I ever had.  But that is a story for another day….
 
What’s a bad boss lesson that has helped you be a better leader?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Leadership Lessons From My Mom

(Powerful leadership lessons are learned from everywhere.  In a sporadic series of blogs, I am going to explore the people that taught me those lessons.  Some will be expected, others may not. Thanks for reading!)
 
My mother was the daughter of a tobacco farmer from rural North Carolina.  She was the 10th out of 12 children.  It was unlikely, based on her childhood, that she would have a career of her own, let alone leave North Carolina.  But, my mother isn’t like most people.  She is strong willed and determined.  Some of her friends call her a force of nature.  My father was a larger than life figure, but my mother was never engulfed in his shadow.  Instead she was able to make him better and have even more impact.  What I didn’t know was how powerful she is. In the 20 years after my father’s death, I have had the privilege to see what a difference she makes with others every day.  Although there are many, there are  three big lessons about being a leader I learned from her.
 
LESSON -LEADERS AREN’T VICTIMS OF THEIR BIRTH PLACES, THEY ARE THE CREATORS OF THEIR FUTURES.

My mother should have been married and with child before she was 18.  That is, if she followed in the footsteps of her siblings.  She decided that was not to be her. She was going to make her own way.  My mother put herself through nursing school, refusing to be just like everyone else.  She read everything she could get her hands on.
 
After leaving North Carolina, she only went back on her own terms.  Since she left she’s:

• Had dinner with the President of the US
• Met Ravi Shankar
• Hosted dinners for hundreds of dignitaries
• Traveled all over the world
• And so much more
 

She always told me- don’t let where you are born dictate who you become.

She didn’t and I never do.  
 
 
LESSON – LEADERS DON’T LET PEOPLE PUSH THEM AROUND 

My mother led a rebellion.  She and her neighbors led a revolt to free themselves from an oppressive co-op board.  She was threatened, ridiculed and openly harassed. Not only did that not intimidate her, it mad ever will stronger. She rallied her group and stood up to board. And she won. In the end, her neighbors saw her as their champion and the board, albeit reluctantly, saw her as someone not to be trifled with.
 

She always told me – don’t let people bully you. Stick up for what and who you believe in even if that makes you unpopular   In the end people will either accept your opinion or respect you for it
 
LESSON- LEADERS STICK UP FOR PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY CAN’T STICK UP FOR THEMSELVES

My mother’s profession was nursing. She was the champion of the downtrodden and stood up for people when ever she got a chance. At 4 feet 11.5 inches tall, she cast a long shadow.  I remember her stopping people fighting, standing between a man and woman he was trying to intimidate and sticking up for people getting treated poorly in restaurants/grocery stores.
 
When I was a kid, there was a boy who lived in our neighborhood that everyone picked on.  (No it wasn’t me, that happened in High School). One day my Mom saw  some of the boys at the bus stop were roughing him up.  She told me, you need to stand up for him.  I didn’t understand why, but the next day I did.  It wasn’t easy but for some reason I felt so much better after I did.  My friends didn’t make fun of me when I took a stand. Instead they followed suit and the boy that was picked on became on of the group.
 

She told me, leaders look out for everyone especially those that can’t on their own
 
I am a better person and leader because of the lessons my mother taught me.  Lucky for the folks I’ve worked with, I’ve had great teachers to help guide me.
 
Who gave you your lessons in leadership?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

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Cube 2.14 will increase your organizational effectiveness. We specialize in developing innovative, practical solutions to create productive workplaces that exceed goals.