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ISSUE 106

Hard Times
"Do what you can, where you are, with what you have."

--
Teddy Roosevelt

 
“May you live in interesting times” sounds more ominous every week on the rollercoaster that is 2022. As leaders, we need to communicate well to our teams no matter what is going on.

There’s a lot to learn from The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky. Here are some of my favorite excerpts from his book, suited to the mess we are in right now.  

Be generous: “Your job is to be an energy giver rather than taker, which is common among founders and leaders I admire.”

Just a couple of weeks into lockdown in 2020 I watched Band of Brothers again. In episode 6, Easy Company is stuck in freezing trenches in Bastogne, France. Everyone is miserable. But 1st Sgt. Carwood Lipton, who is just as freezing and hungry as everyone else, spends his days running from foxhole to foxhole to check on every member of his team. He was an energy giver.

Be a great Encourager-in-Chief: “Hardship is easier to tolerate when your work is being recognized. . . I would characterize much of my first few years leading my team at Behance as an adventure in manufacturing motivation. . . We would celebrate any new customers, even if the overall numbers were tiny. . . Whatever we could repurpose as a milestone, we would.”

Everyone wants to feel seen and valued. People whose efforts are recognized and celebrated find reserves of motivation to keep contributing. Equally important, each person holding an oar in the boat needs to know that everyone else is rowing the boat just as hard. If any member of the team suffers a painful reversal, it’s great to know that someone else on the team has kept the boat moving forward. One team’s success can be everyone’s success in the hands of the right leader.

Be the one who sees: “Your perspective during the most difficult times will help your team defy their own self-doubt. You are the steward of your team’s perspective, and there is always a way forward so long as you explain it.”

Your job as a leader is to keep that 30,000 foot perspective. You can see the goal, you can describe it, you can spot obstacles, and help your team surmount them. You can help illuminate the way forward, even in the dark.

Be a truth teller: “Nothing beats explicitness. Aspire to say it like it is.”

Telling the truth is the most respectful and the most efficient way to communicate with your teams. You hired adults who are capable of doing great things. Treat them that way - tell them the truth.

As we stare up at the mountains that we know we must climb and begin to feel our hope and courage flag, Teddy Roosevelt’s voice is clarifying: “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.”

What else can we do?


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If you’d like great results, schedule a conversation with me! It’s easy! Reach me at inquiries@poseycorp.com.
Your business must scale, and you must scale with it. Great communicators create the change they want to see in the world. poseycorp helps innovators build powerful messages and the skill to deliver them so they can break through the noise and be heard! Lisa Poulson, poseycorp’s principal, is expert at helping innovators scale by becoming great communicators.

Do you wish everyone around you had great communication skills? Share this link with them so they can learn too!


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Reading Pema Chodron always helps, but she’s essential these days.
 
 
 
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