Category: No-Øs of Business

People have been asking me, “What does the No-Øs mean? Can you share a story about it?” It’s been a fun couple years of putting together my book The No-Øs of Leadership, which was the
culmination of an idea I had back in 2014. The first No-Ø is Ego, the second is Libido, and the third is Dinero. Over the course of my career, I have studied people and looked at organizations trying to figure out what worked and what didn’t work. Obviously, the things that didn’t work went on my “Do not do” list. The No-Øs of Leadership came out of this idea of studying and being a student of leadership for my whole life.

The first No-Ø is Ego, which actually manifests when a leader puts themselves, their vision and their mission before those they are leading. So, they’re number one to themselves. And when a person leads from Ego, it just doesn’t work.

The second No-Ø is Libido, which has to do with our energy and our passion. Leaders that have too much passion for something, or maybe another person, tend to get themselves into trouble. Maintaining your sense of self-regulation is very important to be a good leader. And whether it’s passion for an idea that you just won’t let go of or it’s passion for somebody else (potentially a relationship that’s inappropriate, especially in the workplace, which is extremely problematic).

And then there’s the No-Ø of Dinero. Focusing on money as a primary motivator can be a problem. I am not trying to dissuade anybody from thinking that profits are not important because if you don’t have profits your company won’t exist. But if a leader is so focused on financial outcomes, whether it is their bonus system or other ways to put money first, they forget about their employees, their stakeholders, shareholders or their members. And, they think mostly about enriching themselves.

My model and my call is to be a Leader Worth Following who has the ability to avoid the pitfalls of the No-Øs of Ego, Libido and Dinero. And, the antidote for those No-Øs is Empathy and Self-Awareness. Being self-aware means understanding your wake and understanding your impact on others. The other piece is empathy and Brené Brown gives a great explanation of what empathy is compared to sympathy. “Sympathy is when you feel sorry for somebody, which is not as powerful as empathy. Empathy is when you join people in their suffering and join people in their hardship.” Empathy as a leader puts you in a position where you understand what your team is going through. You feel their pain and realize that just rolling out of bed and putting their feet on the ground might be a heroic act. We must give space for people to have really difficult days and just show up for work.

This vision of being a Leader Worth Following is a noble one; and yet it is a journey, not a destination. I invite you to think about The No-Øs of Leadership, the antidote of self-awareness and empathy, and the calling to be a Leader Worth Following.

An interesting title for a topic, I know. Just bear with me and you’ll see how the correlation of George Bush, who detested broccoli, ties into the greater picture. Words that a person
says, especially by someone in the mainstream media, can highly affect individuals who hear the message. Hopefully this blog will stick in your mind and be remembered when you
are tempted to say something that can affect another person, or an industry, negatively.

So, George H. W. Bush is quoted saying ““I do not like broccoli. I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. I’m President of the United States, and I’m not
going to eat any more broccoli!” Those words, spoken during his presidency, had more of an impact than he likely imagined. By talking negatively about broccoli, he upset the entire
industry because he was hurting their businesses, and rightfully so. This is a prime example of causing a “wake”, much like the wave that follows a speedboat and could wreak havoc on
anyone/anything behind it.

If you don’t see your wake and how it affects other people, then you won’t be sensitive to those ‘broccoli’ moments you might have as a leader. When you fail to consider your wake
and the possible chaos it can cause as a leader, it’s much easier to fall into the traps of the No-Øs. You have to think carefully about whether your actions or words could have a
negative impact on others

To strategize, according to dictionary.com, is to plan or create a plan for a specific reason or goal. The elusive, often-misunderstood process that some leaders believe is a one- or two-person activity. If you are a leader who strategizes alone or with only a few of your staff then you may wonder why your teams don’t follow through with the strategy or why people struggle with its ownership. I am guilty myself, so not pointing a finger.

The problem with developing a strategy behind closed doors means only a portion of the company created it. So, you may ask “But how do you bring in the entire company when strategizing?” By utilizing cross-functional teams within my organization, utilizing a scenario-planning model, and having each team take a scenario, we were able to discuss and make plans for a successful future for the company. This process doesn’t happen overnight, nor should it. It ended up being a year-long process that fully vested all of our staff and therefore created buy-in from each person.

Lessons learned included me handing over the reins to my executive team, which really empowered them and then filtered down throughout the entire organization. The output was amazing and when one of those scenarios was translated into our strategy, we had 100 percent buy-in! The purpose of what we did wasn’t as much about strategy as it was about developing people and developing leaders.

When you empower your people, you have much greater success.

Being chosen for a Chief Executive Officer position is quite an honor. However, with this designation also comes a huge amount of expectation, especially when it’s your first time being a CEO. When you are chosen over someone else serving as the interim organizational leader, the challenge can be even more daunting.

I experienced this situation when I joined Powder River Energy Corporation some twenty years ago. Unfortunately, during this interim time period, the company was restructured and teams built around the interim CEO and his style of leading. The mentality of the company and those under him were to look to him for guidance in all issues. They were used to being told what to do and to not think for themselves, which I considered a dysfunctional way of operating. My initial intent was to build trust and develop relationships; and to get them more used to tapping into their own abilities to solve problems and to think on their own. Yes, many times I got the ‘deer in the headlights look’ when I responded to their questions of “How should we handle this issue?!” with “How do you think you should handle it?”

The key lesson I want you to take away from this blog is that you don’t always have to be the smartest person in the room. Making space for others to step up will help the development of your leaders and their teams.

Considering the substantial fear in our country following 9/11, my executive team at Powder River Energy and I established an initiative called “Celebration of Community Champions”. Super Bowl champs, Kevin Holloway and William Perry got involved and we did a bus tour across our service territory, visiting small communities. It felt good to create some positive energy by recognizing and celebrating area volunteers.

As a result of this initiative, I was invited to speak at the annual meeting of the National Electrical Cooperative Association. At this meeting, I met Kevin Freiberg, a keynote speaker on leadership and innovative author who was a panel moderator. Since I was at the beginning of my journey as a cooperative CEO, I recognized how much I could benefit from the knowledge of someone like Kevin. So, in a bold move, I asked Kevin “Do you do any charity work?” A bit perplexed, he asked “What do you mean?” So, I explained that working for a non-profit with not much money had its challenges; but boy, could I use a mentor if he was at all willing to do some charity work. Laughing, he told me to stay in touch. One never knows what may come from asking a simple question. The worst that could have happened is he could have said “Sorry, but no, I don’t.” But because I stepped out on that ledge and had the courage to at least ask, Kevin has been my mentor and a key part of my leadership journey now for many years. Kevin Freiberg wrote the Foreword in the No-Os of Leadership, for which I am very grateful.

The key take-away from this Blog is self-awareness. You need to know where you need help to be able to identify the right people to mentor you at different stages in your leadership journey.