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Browse published articles attributed to Dave Jensen, with full-archive search.
The two FBI agents stared at me from across the table. The woman’s blue eyes narrowed and her forehead wrinkled as she aimed her next question, “If you teach leadership, maybe you can tell me how important all these leadership tests the FBI makes me take really are?” Me, “Depends how they use them.” Her, “They use them for promotions, reviews, screening… lots of ways.”
A virtual team is one that has members in different physical locations (e.g., buildings or countries) or working at different times (e.g., shifts). One of the major trends in business is to get work done, projects accomplished, or goals achieved via virtual teams. Yet studies have shown that only 18% of senior managers consider the performance of these teams as highly successful. (1) How successful is your virtual team? There are a number of variables that affect team success. Here are the top ten tools research reveals can improve your virtual team's performance:
"I thought there were supposed to be thousands of butterflies?" Marek's wrinkled brow confirmed his disappointment. His two brothers and sister joined in a chorus of, "I can't believe we drove six hours to see this!" The four adults acknowledged there were relatively few butterflies, yet emphasized that the absolute numbers were still quite staggering. "After all, there are hundreds of monarch butterflies." Our optimistic words were lost as my friend's four children raced towards the newly discovered sand dunes on the beach.
At the end of the dinner, the president of our association asked the board of directors if we had any questions. My first thought, don’t you have any questions for us?
The soapy, wet rags danced across my front windshield as I drove into the carwash. Instantly, my 90-pound German Sheppard leapt from the back to the front seat. His big brown eyes screamed at me, "Dad, what's that?" “It’s okay Comet." I stroked his head as the car darkened. Within seconds, those gigantic brushes attacked the car from all sides. Comet scrambled onto my lap, shaking. His eyes, glued to mine, cried “I’m not okay!" I held him tightly, stroked his head, and sang our song, "That's our good boy Comet; Comet is a good boy..." He stopped shaking.
A middle manager recently reported that she was very disappointed that her division head was giving her only a 1% raise this year, despite the fact that the middle manager exceeded all her goals. Her boss told her that she was hired at the high end of the pay scale (a few years ago) and there was little room for salary growth. This Fortune 500 company has a turnover rate of 25%, and they are about to lose another good manager because they don’t know how to retain top talent through engagement. Do you?
Do you ever feel like a lifeguard tower at a seagull convention? Although I teach leaders how to motivate others, occasionally I have a hard time practicing what I teach; especially when I am hit by one of life's unexpected waves. How do you feel when you're smacked by a setback at work and home? What do you do when people are difficult, equipment breaks down, your schedule seems out of control, or those seagulls are threatening to hold a convention over your head?
Traffic lights are also called signals because they provide information that directs our future action. They “signal” us to stop, go, or in the case of yellow… hit the gas and race through the intersection. (Maybe I don’t have that last signal quite right.) Emotions are signals too. They contain information that communicates direction. Just as in traffic lights, we can only understand emotional signals if we detect the signal, judge its intensity (akin to how far you are from the light), and evaluate our options accurately. How well do you understand emotional signals?
It's 8:06 Monday morning. I'm gazing out the balcony window of my Las Vegas hotel room after a weekend of teaching. Across the courtyard, I can see the palm trees refusing to submit to the will of the desert wind and a few tumbleweeds race across the manicured grounds. My thoughts drift to leaders who tumble through life without clear goals in all areas of their personal and professional lives.
The gnawing anxiety in the pit of my stomach kept me awake. I had invested all my savings in this entrepreneurial venture, borrowed money from friends, and was near the limit of my credit cards. The nightmare of losing my home also thundered in my brain.
Monica, a mid-level manager, asked me to help her improve leadership skills by speaking at her regional meeting. She also told me of her plan to ask her managers to teach each other their favorite leadership skills during breakout sessions. Our conversation went like this... Me, "What specific strategies will your leaders teach each other?" Monica, "I'm not sure yet. But I think there are many different approaches to improve leadership. I want them to share their techniques." Me, "Will your leaders have time to try many different approaches when they get back to work?"
The two FBI agents stared at me from across the table. The woman’s blue eyes narrowed and her forehead wrinkled as she aimed her next question, “If you teach leadership, maybe you can tell me how important all these leadership tests the FBI makes me take really are?” Me, “Depends how they use them.” Her, “They use them for promotions, reviews, screening… lots of ways.”
The two FBI agents stared at me from across the table. The woman’s blue eyes narrowed and her forehead wrinkled as she aimed her next question, “If you teach leadership, maybe you can tell me how important all these leadership tests the FBI makes me take really are?” Me, “Depends how they use them.” Her, “They use them for promotions, reviews, screening… lots of ways.”
The tires screeched, the 1965 blue Chevy fishtailed around the corner, and came straight at us. My 8th-grade best friend Ricky froze. I grabbed his arm and yelled, "RUN!" A split-second later, we heard the crash of twisting metal. We turned around and watched the Chevy roll, slow-motion-like, backwards into the main road. Soon horns blew, sirens pierced the air, and the police arrived.
In a study of over 1,000 mid-level leaders, Professor David Antonioni concluded that the best juggle three roles -- managing, leading, and coaching. (1) Middle leaders are those one level above supervisors and at least two levels below the CEO. Do you ever feel as if you’re stuck in the middle, keeping all those balls in the air? Professor Antonioni assures us that can be done.
Ethics is defined as the "standards governing how human beings ought to act in various situations." Would you describe yourself as an ethical leader? If so, what values drive your ethics? How do you apply those values in your everyday decision-making?
He marched down the hall towards me. He wore a black suit, white shirt, and a gray tie that matched his silver hair. Oh no, I thought to myself, it's Mr. McNulty, the executive director of this entire YMCA. Ten yards from me, he stopped and bent down to pick up a candy wrapper that had escaped from a careless child in our youth department. He then strode to the trash bin next to the desk where I was checking children into their afte oon classes. "You're Dave Jensen, aren’t you?" He barked. "Yes sir," I stammered.
Can you guess the name of the leader described below? - A new chief executive, one of the youngest in his nation's history, is being sworn into office on a cold and cloudy day in January. - He was raised a Catholic. - He rose to his new position in part because of his vibrant charisma. - He is revered by the people and will play a crucial role in a military crisis that will face his nation. - His name will become legendary.
The CEO marched to the podium. The applause faded. The audience of 500 senior executives and middle managers listened as the CEO outlined the major change initiative. His grasp of the facts and details was amazing. Unfortunately, after 10 minutes of data, the audience drifted. The CEO lost them because he didn't know that broadcasting is not communicating. He didn't realize that to reach the mind one must go through the heart. He didn't appreciate the power of story to inspire, motivate, and encourage his leaders to commit to his message.
"I'll get back to you on that." I uttered these famous last words to a graduate student at UCLA way back when I was selling for Siemens Medical Systems. I never did get back to him. I became busy and forgot about his request. Not a big deal, right? it wasn’t as HE was the person buying the equipment from us or influential in the buying process. Yeah right.
Have you or one of your team members ever attended a seminar, class, or important meeting where they picked up valuable ideas and information, but then got back to work only to become so busy or distracted that the ideas were never implemented? Of course, it happens to most of us. What can you do to get these ideas implemented? Here are two simple techniques that can significantly increase the probability that you and your direct reports "use it and don't lose it."
Emotions are a feedback mechanism. The dictionary defines feedback as ‘information returned to the source.” Thus, emotions contain information for us. They are meant to help us manage our attention. If you do not manage your emotions and pay attention to the emotions of those around you, you will miss an enormous amount of information necessary for effective leadership.
My first job after graduate school was coordinating research at the University of Califo ia at San Diego (UCSD). I had the privilege of working with an extraordinary team led by luminary leader, Dr. Victor Froelicher. In the four years that the nucleus of our small, productive, and highly motivated team was together, we published 33 major research papers. Several members of our team went on to become productive leaders in their respective fields. What accounted for such productivity, effectiveness, and motivation? The latest research in neuroscience, biology, and psychology tell us that Dr.
Amid the impersonal busyness of the airport, I feel drawn to his warm oasis. My shoes don’t need shining, I think as I take a seat to have my polished shoes shined at Nacho’s shoeshine stand in Terminal 1 at the LA airport. Nacho (his real name) looks up and smiles. I rationalize my decision, Well; my shoes can’t be TOO polished as I fly out to work with the Federal Reserve Bank. Why would I choose to spend money at Nacho’s getting my shoes shined when they didn’t need it? Because he delivers what scientists tell us are the keys to profitable repeat customers. Do you?
Bill is gone? I thought to myself. I shouldn't be surprised. He was great at putting a project scope together. He had the most elegant project charts in the company. He was even a good guy… once you got to know him. I later learned that Bill was fired from Siemens because he was not a "people person," meaning he had low emotional intelligence. How is yours?
In a survey of 359 corporate officers and 6,900 managers from 77 firms, the McKinsey organization reported that only 7% of respondents agreed that their companies had enough talented managers. (1) Even more alarming was the mere 3% who agreed with this statement: "We develop people effectively." The question then becomes, how might you take personal responsibility to become one of the talented managers or leaders? The answer, learning agility. I think it is the number one leadership best practice.
“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know oneself.” Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Improved Almanac (1750)
Several years ago, I was invited to present at an association meeting on the topic of "staying positive when things seem negative." Since it's a topic I've studied for decades and tried to practice almost as long, I agreed. As I reviewed the old notes recently, it occurred to me that I could update these ideas for leaders like you. When things seem negative, people always look to leaders. So pick a few of the following ideas that will help you stay positive when things seem negative...
A business school professor once told me that, "the job of a leader is to remove stress from his or her employees." I disagreed by saying, "I think one of the jobs of a leader is to help his or her employees manage stress for optimal performance." How well do you help your team manage stress throughout the day?
My Dad spent 30 years working toward retirement, and he retired with nothing. There are many reasons why his company shut down. Near the top of the list was lack of leadership. Specifically, the inability of political, company and union leaders to understand that managing the tension between performance and people is the heart of a leader’s job. How well do you manage that tension?r