Tag Archives | Pamela Stambaugh

A Gift of Insight into Leadership from Laurie Taylor, and more

By on October 30, 2010 in Business, Leadership Books, Perspectives, strategic planning, strategy, Uncategorized


Laurie Taylor is a petite woman with a big message. In addition to her own life experience as a CEO, she works with James Fischer, author of Navigating the Growth Curve, and researcher behind the Seven Stages of Growth, outlined on Laurie’s website at http://www.igniteyourbiz.com/7-stages-of-growth.shtml.

In that same weekend I heard Dick Bruso talk about the importance of the congruence of your brand with your authentic self (Heard Above the Noise), and Carol Desmond talk about the Alphabet Soup of Trademarks (see my prior blog), and Steve Cohen, author of Mess Management; Lessons from a Corporate Hit Man talk about what he does as a corporate hit man, which is extract businesses from their messy people problems.  I got to see Tom Hill interview Peter Strople, a powerful force for good.  Peter and his wife have started a foster care agency for children, Refuge House Foster Care and Adoption Agency.  At our November gathering, Larry and I had dinner with Peter — what a delightful man with a very big heart.

Tom Hill, the magician who created these great gatherings of people, is a magnet for the likes of Peter, Dick, Steve, Carol and Laurie, and fortunately for me — me!  As I continue to be privileged to garner his support and this group’s support in growing myself and my business, I will continue to share their insights from time to time.

What strikes me is that these committed, educated, outstanding presenters are all leaders in their lives who have stepped forward to help leaders be better leaders.  Laurie’s experience and insights combined with building on the work of James Fisher is valuable for the perspective that it can bring anyone trying to lead today.  It answers the questions, “What stage are we at in our business growth process?” and “How should I, as the leader, act now?”

A focus of mine with leaders is bench strength, which partners well with Laurie’s focus on growth stages and appropriate actions as a leader, because if you do not have the right people in the right seat on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus (Good to Great, Jim Collins) you (leader) are not going to take that bus too darned far or fast! I will have the pleasure of pleasure of presenting that emphasis at the next conference in February. Can’t wait!

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Marcus Buckingham was a strength motivator at the SHRM Convention

By on July 3, 2010 in Business, Perspectives, strategy, Trust, Values

Workers in China focus on performance, which means they focus on their strengths not their weaknesses.  There, according to Marcus Buckingham’s research, 73 % of workers focus on their strengths, and 27% focus play to their weaknesses compared with the United States where only 14% spend most of their day focusing on their strengths.  We need to build our jobs to fit our strengths.

In the U.S. we believe our strengths are what we are good at, except we may be good at it and we hate it!  We CAN do it, but it drains us.  A weakness is an activity that weakens you.  A strength strengthens you. The assignment from Marcus for the audience was to take a pad of paper, draw a line down the middle, and over the course of the day note what you’re doing and also whether you loved doing it or loathed doing it.

Marcus points to 4 clear signs of strengths:

1.  Success – you feel effective
2.  Instinct – you look forward to it — you like doing it
3. Growth – your synapses are firing, you are in the flow, inquisitive and focused
4.  Needs how do I feel after I have done it?  Did it fill a need I have?

At end of the week, pick one activity that you loved and write a strengths statement that is specific and general at the same time.  In his funny way of sharing a story, Marcus told of when he was interviewing Rosa.  He picked the verb “interviewing.”  Drill down to the specifics of what you really liked about that.   Marcus got specific around interviewing.  “I only like to talk to you if you are really good at your job.  I want to explore why you excel.”  That is specificity around the verb “interviewing.”

End up with 3 strengths statements, and do it twice a year.  Do the same self-evaluation for what you loathe.

Now, as a manager, what about the people you manage? How will you discover your peoples’ strengths, and help them play to those strengths?

Furthermore, what is your strategy to manage drainers — activities that need to be done and you loathe doing it?  Here are some choices.
1. Stop doing it
2. Team up with others who are strengthened by it
3. Offer up your strengths until it is what you do all day
4. Perceive the need, then use a strength to neutralize your weakness
5.  Suck it up and do it

First be honest about what weakens you.  Move your job so the best of your job becomes most of your job.

Responsibility of  a Leader

The job of a leader is to lead people to a better future.  A leader needs optimism.  If you are not motivated that way, you are a pessimist.  How to get agreement from those you are leading is by providing CLARITY, so that people can taste the milk and smell the honey.  There is a vividness about the future, and it is painted in a way that we can see ourselves in that future.

A leader needs to know:

1.  Who do we serve?  Exactly who, not something vague.  Giuliani focused on reducing crime as his focus.   Make a choice, be vivid.
2. What is our core strength, edge, then paint it vividly. Not something vague like “our people are our core strength.”  It’s too vague.  IPhone’s core strength is not partnering!  They have other core strengths, that’s not one of them.

3. Tell me the one score we are going to use.   The Balanced Scorecard is good for management, lousy for leadership.  Marcus gave a prison example where the leader said, “We serve the prisoner.”  Whether right or wrong, he was clear.   What measure?  The recidivism rate is the measure of success — if successful in creating that future, they will keep prisoners from coming back.
4. What action can we take today??   Giuliani, as an example of a leader, cleaned up New York City and his measures were to remove graffiti and have cab drivers wear collared shirts.
In his keynote, Marcus kept coming back to fears, saying that real leaders create momentum when they measure specific actions because specific actions calm our fears.  That is brilliant.   What stops us from focusing on our strengths is our fear that our weaknesses will damage us.  If we are following a capable leader into the future that is vividly expressed with one or two clear measures of success, we can then move confidently forward.  If our managers are focusing on our strengths with us, we can then enjoy our work and make our greatest contribution.

The appeal — to the American audience, not the Chinese one — was to up the ante on our game.  Get clear about our strengths and use them in service of a clear and vivid future.

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Architect of Trust Architecture, Robert Porter Lynch

By on June 25, 2010 in Business, Perspectives, Trust


Fear is a big saboteur of trust, one of many saboteurs.  I had the pleasure to spend the day with Robert Porter Lynch in a seminar, Trusted to Lead.  The time flew.

Dr. Lynch has studied trust in organizations so thoroughly he is writing two books on the architecture of what it takes to build trust, providing a breakthrough in generating successful relationships; one for academia, one for business leaders.

Specifically yesterday we were learning about the ladder of trust in organizations (as opposed to some quick and insufficient definition of trust) and how people climb up the ladder of trust (above the belt) or descend down the ladder of distrust (below the belt).  No platitudes or hollow concepts, this was a sturdy, application-driven workshop experience.  This video gives you a two minute moving snapshot (if you listen closely, because I was in the back of the room) of a highlight moment of the day.

One requirement essential to trust is to balance two interests; self interest (individual good) and mutual interest (greater good, noble cause).  Many folks would have their savings intact if the greedy few hadn’t tipped the scales to ignore mutual interest and gobble gobble gobble for themselves, never mind the impact on the rest of us.

Dr. Lynch’s research reveals that 80%-90% of people are capable of achieving that balance, and we all should look out for the dark side that is in the other 10-20% of the population.  Whether we like it or not, that element is indeed real in our society, and it can play a very strong hand in our experience of life.  If we don’t feel safe with one another, how can we trust?  If we don’t trust, we revert to fear.

I invite you, the reader, to be a champion for trust and to learn how to be that champion in your organizations.  At the creationship tip-top of the ladder of trust, fun and joy are present.  Are you having fun in your organization?  Are you being creatively collaborative?  You could be.  As Dr. Lynch says, “Fun is where Fear Disappears.”

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