Tuesday at 2:00pm with Russ

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

Greetings to you!

Each week I send out a short leadership blog that's called "Tuesday at 2:00pm". The purpose of this is simply to provide a brief thought on leadership that you can read and think about in just a few minutes. I send it out every week at 2:00pm (PST) and encourage you to make an appointment with yourself to pause and think about the thing I'm writing about.

Russ...

LEADERSHIP QUOTE:

"Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own." Bruce Lee

What does this stir up? Either write me HERE or comment at the end of the blog post HERE.

A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:

This month I want to explore some ideas around PROJECT MANAGEMENT. Pretty exciting theme for a summer month, but I'm finding myself looking for some tools to help me get some things done over the next few months.

I've watched quite a bit of the World Cup over the past weeks. Some incredible moments of victory and some really hard moments of defeat, but 2 things just stand out to me as I watch these teams play.

First, THE POWER OF TEAM. The idea that everyone has a role to play, and they play together, often working specifically to get the ball to a point on the pitch where a specific player has the best chance of scoring. The entire team working together to make that happen, focused and in sync with each other. There was some beautiful fútbol being played!

Second, THE ABILITY TO ADAPT, which is what triggered the quote above from Bruce Lee.

These teams and coaches had to continually adapt their plan and their style of play to each of the teams they faced, changing pre-game and then during the game. Every team showed up with a strategy, with surprises, with the goal to win, and that competition forced everyone to be constantly changing.

I read an article yesterday about Lionel Messi, and it sparked my attention. They were commenting on the fact that Messi often appears to be standing and watching, or walking and not engaged in everything that's happening on the field, but the argument was that Messi was studying. He was evaluating the opposing team, he was watching for what they were doing and he was constantly finding ways to address their play and adapt their play in response. As the captain of the Argentina team, he was paying attention to everything that was happening on the field, and bringing his years and years of experience onto the field to help his team adapt and have the best chance of winning.

Unfortunately for Messi and his team, Spain was able to do this better in the final and they won a well deserved championship.

Coming back to our conversation around Project Management, this idea from Bruce Lee is critical in our ability to define a project, work towards completing a project and manage the outcomes.

On a scale of 1 - 10, how comfortable are you with adapting your plan based on what's going on around you, with 10 being "highly adaptable" and 1 being "resistant to adaptation"?

DEEPER STILL:

Taking some lessons from what we saw happen in the World Cup, here are 3 things we as leaders have to be able to do if we want to respond/react to new opportunities & challenges that come to us while we're in the middle of a specific project.

First, the lesson from Messi, SEE CLEARLY WHAT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING. Before you adapt, you need accurate real-time information. Pay attention to what's happening every step of the way, not only when there's a problem.

Second, DECIDE QUICKLY WITHOUT NEEDING CERTAINTY. There are times when you will be forced to make a decision, and you might not be 100% sure. This is leadership! You need to be willing to make a judgement decision based on your experience and your GUT. If you wait too long, you'll miss an opportunity or your current situation may collapse.

Third, LET GO OF THE ORIGINAL PLAN WITHOUT LOSING THE GOAL. Back to fútbol, the goal is to WIN. What must be done for us to accomplish that even if it means letting go of our strategy, our plan, our dreams, our own place in winning. Don't lose site of the goal or the purpose of what you're trying to do. Hold things loosely without compromising on that goal.

Back to Bruce Lee's quote:

  • What is USEFUL? Leverage that, double down on that, invest in that.

  • What is USELESS? Get rid of it, eliminate it, make space.

  • What is YOUR OWN? What unique gifts do you bring to the table? What are you able to do to accomplish the task, achieve the goal?

Think of a time that you were able to successfully ADAPT? What was the outcome? How did you feel during the process?

 

Things I'm Reading, Listening To and Watching This Week:

Source: www.leadermundial.org