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Time & Leadership

Continental Europe made the one-hour time change for Daylight Savings last weekend.  I loved the Swiss newspapers' emphasis:  instead of "gain one hour" or "sleep an extra hour," it was Sunday will be a "25 hour day."  Precisely measured.

I thought about that.  Do I really want a 25 hour day?  I suppose Sunday would be the best choice for it.  Many days during the week, I think I need an extra hour or two as I stare at an ambitious "to do" list.  But then the issue is really the former rather than the latter.  The over ambitiousness rather than the real value of working another hour or two every day.

My range of clients demonstrates the range of time leadership possible.  Some clients value time as a resource.  Others view it as something to simply be purchased.

Through the last weeks, I'm becoming more acutely aware that I put a value on time well above any monetary amount.  The wise use of time makes the difference between innovation and creativity and "just getting a job done."  Time squandered often impacts the long-term health of projects and relationships.

Where you spend your time communicates your values, priorities and goals.

My leadership goal for the next weeks will be to change the semantics of time as a commodity to be purchased to time as a precious gift to be tended with care.

Remembering Indian Summer

One warm day this month, I spontaneously snapped this photo of the street where I work as I was walking back to the office after lunch.  Always enjoying the busy pedestrian zone that surrounds us on one of Zurich's more historic streets.   We are fortunate with our current office location, which may not always be large enough for us as we grow. 

I knew then, as I can feel now, that Fall was approaching.  We had very few days of "coatless" weather left before the months of winter. 

So here -- on a day when there are snowflakes swirling about a little -- is my reminder that the streets always dance back to life one day. 

Communicating to influence: communicate!

Fear.  I now believe this is the greatest obstacle to real communication in business.  Fear of looking stupid in front of others.  Of being fired.  Of losing a battle. Of being rejected.  Of being wrong.

If there's a consistent thread in the stories that clients tell about why they think they cannot communicate with influence, it's that they have remained silent instead of voicing their opinions and needs.

This is so common, it's a business epidemic.

So as I'm about to start a series of little posts about how to be more influential in an organization,  let's set a foundation:

If you want to communicate something, you have to actually say it.  Out loud.  Directly to the people who need to hear it.

Ask yourself, when was the last time you wanted something to change around your work?  Did you say it out loud directly to the people how neede to hear it?

If not, let's think about how to make this happen!

Squeezing in time for expression

When I don't write on this blog now, I miss it.  Because thinking about what to write has become a way of pondering what's new in my life and work, when I don't blog I am a little cut-off from my own voice.  Less time to express and more time to just plain "do."  I'm conscious, though, that too much time just "doing" becomes a habit and might take me in directions I didn't intend to go.

This is simply life:  Mom -- who is visiting me now in Zurich for two weeks -- watched how I'm working these days.  She commented that sometimes you simply have periods in life that are so busy you can only keep-up. You just hope that all of life isn't so full.

When she was around my age, she was teaching school and raising four pre-teenage children.  Tired all the time she said.  No life of her own.  "Just a slave to what everyone else needed."

That was for a time the consequence of something Mom wanted -- children -- that turned out just a little differently than planned (triplet sons, plus me a bit older).  And so you can live the life you choose, yet it still throws you some challenges along the way.

Seems we often become slaves to other needs by making choices to do things we want to do or the things we think we should do to be a good friend, colleague, daughter, mother, partner, etc.  That's a fine balance to keep some space for yourself while doing the things that are "important."

Like today, I'm writing this blog for 10 minutes on a Sunday morning -- because Mom is taking a shower and I can find a little time to squeeze in-between.  I'm happier now for being back on my blog!