Future Ready Leadership With Jacob Morgan

Self-awareness is one of the most important things to have as a leader. An effective way to practice self-awareness is to know what others think of you. Other people's opinions of you are often very different from your opinion of yourself. You need to encourage people to give you constructive feedback. But you can't just call people up and ask what they think of you. Once you collect this information, you can compare it to your list of how you think about yourself. This will help you assess yourself and improve on the areas you are struggling with. This episode of Future of Work is supported by Teamistry, a podcast that tells the stories of teams who work together in new and unexpected ways… to beat the odds. Each episode tells a unique story and provides practical lessons for your team and your business. I got a sneak peek of season 2 and was immediately sucked in with its documentary-style narration, details about stories I thought I knew but didn't, and practical lessons that I was able to apply to my business. Check it out here.

Carrie Birkhofer is President and CEO of Bay Federal Credit Union, a non profit financial cooperative with 225 employees. She's been the CEO there for 25 years and under her leadership the credit union has grown from $70 million to $1.4 billion in assets. This year has brought on a lot of challenges for leaders in every industry. Some leaders have struggled and even failed. Others have really embraced change in order to help their people get through these tough times. One CEO that has really used the current challenges to make her organization even better is Carrie Birkhofer, President and CEO of Bay Federal Credit Union. Even before the pandemic she knew the importance of putting people first. Carrie was one of the CEOs I interviewed for my book, The Future Leader and during the interview she said the following, "I meet employees the first hour on the first day they start at the Credit Union. New employees are welcomed as a group and when new hires start together, I'm there. I greet them, I welcome them, and I answer any questions they may have. All new employees, regardless of their position are seen, heard, respected, and listened to by the leader and they know that I'm there to serve them, not the other way around." This is a great example of what leaders should be every single day, but especially now as we all go through the historic crazy times 2020 has brought. Leaders should serve their people, their people should not be there just to serve them. What does servant leadership look like What does it look like to serve your employees? Carrie has some great real life examples of what it looks like. First of all, Carrie makes sure she meets new employees on their first day at work. In good times, pre-COVID that meant four or five current employees and Carrie getting together in person with the new employees. The current employees would share who they are, what their path has been at Bay Federal, and something interesting that they want to share. Then they would have the new employees do the same thing, except they would share their paths getting to Bay Federal. And then Carrie would go last, because she doesn't want to influence the process. Most people don't even know who she is until she shares. She also gives the new employees a chance to ask any questions they want. But because she realizes they may be too nervous to think of anything, Carrie and two executive vice presidents take that same group out for lunch so they can ask their questions once they are more comfortable. Obviously this process looks a bit different with COVID. But this is still a priority for Carrie, so the initial meeting is done either via Zoom or in a large room where everyone is socially distanced. And instead of physically taking the group out to lunch she orders everyone lunch from Door Dash and they get to eat at their home while on a Zoom with Carrie and her team. She also started writing a Friday morning email to all employees when things got crazy earlier this year. She wanted to make sure everyone was up to date and had all the information they needed. She got such great feedback from it, that she continues it to this day. And even though she says it is a lot of work on her part, it is worth it because it has allowed her to be even more connected with her team. This year has also brought a lot of attention to racial inequalities. Carrie wanted to make sure she addressed this in the right way. So she called up all of the employees in the company who identify as black and she checked in on them. She asked how they were doing, she asked what she could do to help, and she made herself available to them. She genuinely cares about her people and she wants to make sure that every single one of them is heard and respected. The day to day of a CEO before and during COVID As a CEO Carrie's day to day looks a little different now. Pre-COVID Carrie would be out of the office a lot more. She attended community events, went out to build business relationships, took part in conferences. But now she is primarily working from home. And she has been spending a lot more time communicating with her employees, the board of directors, and the senior leadership team. Nowadays she wakes up quite early with her new puppy. She starts her day off by going for a walk to the Monterey Bay where she does a gratitude mantra. This has really helped her to stay grounded during all of the craziness of 2020. During her walk when she gets to a certain spot she takes time to ask for wisdom and guidance from family members who have passed on. She says a prayer of thanks. She gets perspective and reflects. And she takes in the view of nature around her. She does this every single day without fail, rain or shine. Then when she gets back she has some coffee and goes into her office (which right now is in her bedroom). She takes a look at her calendar to see what her day looks like, every day is very different, but generally she has Zoom meetings and activities from 8:30am to 4:30pm. And she ends her day with the same walk she does in the morning. She is very involved in her Rotary Club, she has the new employee orientations on the first Monday of every month, she meets daily with her executive assistant, and daily with her two vice presidents. She also meets twice a week with her senior leadership team. And while the amount of communication needed these days can be exhausting, she enjoys feeling more connected to her team now than ever before. Making the shift at first seemed daunting but as Carrie shares, "Well, on March 13, the governor kinda hinted that we were shutting down and on March 17 everyone went home. And we adapted that day, it took about a week for the technology team to get 100 employees situated at home and I know companies much larger than us did as well. It was kind of a miracle in the business world, that we all did it. But it happened really quickly. It happened overnight. And if you had told me six months ago that this is something that we will have to do, and this is how we're going to operate, and you're gonna do it in less than a week, my team would have laughed at me. But we did it. And we just, I think it shows the power of having a clear mandate. That's an important thing. If you have clear crystal clear direction, I think teams can do amazing work. And it also shows me the power of a team that is very synergized and works collaboratively together." Keeping culture alive while working remotely Bay Federal has a lot of unique activities in place to keep the company culture alive when so many team members are working from home. One tradition they have had for a long time is around Halloween. Before the pandemic they had every department pick a theme and the employees decorated their area over the top with props and everything. Then the senior leadership team would go around to every location throughout the day. It was a very big production. But knowing this year they had to do it a bit differently they made the whole week of Halloween spirit week where everyone could dress up for a different theme every day whether they were physically in the office or working from home. Everyone got to upload a picture of themselves in their costume and prizes were given out to the best ones. Carrie also makes sure to start each meeting with a different fun question, like what is your favorite rock band? What is your favorite meal that you are Door Dashing right now? This practice really helps with Zoom meetings so that they don't just jump into things without doing something fun first. Carrie has also used this question time to ask people what their favorite cake is, and she keeps track of all the responses so she can send people their favorite cake on their birthday. The leadership team was able to have a socially distanced barbeque where they got to play trivia games, good food, and they could reconnect since they hadn't been together in quite a long time. The importance of putting people first has been talked about for many years. But this year has really shown us that leaders actually need to be human, they have to get to know their people, and they have to put people first in order to thrive and grow. Any leader who doesn't do this will get left behind. Carrie's advice for future female leaders We have a long way to go to bring equality to leadership. We need more women leaders. Carrie has been a CEO for 25 years so she knows the challenges and the benefits of being a female leader. Her advice to any women who want to be leaders is, "Show up. When you're in the office, when you have an opportunity to be seen and heard, show up with confidence, and professionalism. Be prepared. You know, don't apologize. Be bold. And listen and ask others what their opinions are, but don't be afraid to share your own. And I think the world is ready for you. There's a lot of acceptance being recognized for diversity. And so it's finding that right audience that's listening to you. Don't carry a chip on your shoulder, be inquisitive, be curious. Be kind. And at the same time be bold." This episode of Future of Work is supported by Teamistry, a podcast that tells the stories of teams who work together in new and unexpected ways… to beat the odds. Each episode tells a unique story and provides practical lessons for your team and your business. I got a sneak peek of season 2 and was immediately sucked in with its documentary-style narration, details about stories I thought I knew but didn't, and practical lessons that I was able to apply to my business. Check it out here.

Improving your strengths and working on your weaknesses is not as hard as people think. When I was younger and was trying to make decisions in my life, whether it was who I wanted to date, where I wanted to live, or even the company I wanted to apply for, my dad would always say, "Jacob, take out a piece of paper, fold it in half and write down the pros and cons on each side of the paper." What you can also do with this exercise is to replace the pros and cons column with strengths and weaknesses. This is a great way to assess yourself and find out what areas you need to work on. Of course, this only works if you are completely honest with yourself. As you learn new things and try to work on your weaknesses, these things are going to change. If you do this exercise on a regular basis, you'll become very self-aware of what your strengths and weaknesses actually are. It's a very simple practice that can make a big difference. This episode of Future of Work is supported by Teamistry, a podcast that tells the stories of teams who work together in new and unexpected ways… to beat the odds. Each episode tells a unique story and provides practical lessons for your team and your business. I got a sneak peek of season 2 and was immediately sucked in with its documentary-style narration, details about stories I thought I knew but didn't, and practical lessons that I was able to apply to my business. Check it out at here.

Leadership expert Michael Watkins discusses strategies for successful leadership transitions, emphasizing the importance of understanding value creation, adaptability, and self-awareness. The podcast explores the changing landscape of work benefits, the necessity of continuous learning in the future of work, and measuring success through feedback and stakeholder engagement.

To be successful in the future of work, leaders must have a growth mindset. One way to identify if a person has a fixed mindset or a growth mindset is by how they tackle problems. For example, if you have a fixed mindset, when you run into a challenge or are faced with a roadblock, you try to tackle it the same way over and over. When those attempts don't work, you get frustrated and quit. But when you have a growth mindset, you find a way to get better to solve the problem. You understand that what you were doing didn't work and that you need to learn a new skill to overcome the obstacle. If you're able to embrace this concept of a growth mindset, you'll become much more valuable as a leader inside your organization. This episode of Future of Work is supported by Teamistry, a podcast that tells the stories of teams who work together in new and unexpected ways… to beat the odds. Each episode tells a unique story and provides practical lessons for your team and your business. I got a sneak peek of season 2 and was immediately sucked in with its documentary-style narration, details about stories I thought I knew but didn't, and practical lessons that I was able to apply to my business. Check it out at here.

The way we work is changing. It's not going to stop changing anytime soon, in fact the change is only going to speed up. Organizations have made progress in adapting for the future of work, but we still have a long way to go. In my book, The Future of Work, I laid out 14 principles of the future organization. And while that book was released back in 2014, these principles are still very relevant for organizations today and we have a lot of work to do in each one of these areas in order to succeed in the next decade and beyond. So let's take a deeper look at each one of these 14 principles. Globally distributed with smaller teams We have been seeing organizations move away from having all of their employees located in a few corporate offices to having employees spread out all over the world. This allows teams to be smaller and more agile. It also opens up a wider pool of talent for organizations then we have seen in the past. Proximity to the corporate headquarters is no longer an issue. This is an exciting change because it means organizations can utilize the best talent and individuals can work for their dream company no matter where they are in the world. We were already seeing this change back in 2014, but now with COVID-19 we are seeing this become even more common. Connected workforce While it is great to have a global team around the world, it is not possible to work effectively from all over without being able to stay connected. Your team needs to be able to connect to the right information and to each other anywhere, anytime, and from any device. Which means your organization has to have the right technology in place to make that happen. Technology is the central nervous system of any organization. With the current pandemic companies have been pushed to achieve in 3 months what they had been trying to do over 10 years. But with or without the pandemic, companies have to continue to create and invest in the technologies that connect their workforce. Intrapreneurial There are several traits that come to mind when you think of an entrepreneur. Passion, drive, innovation, creativity, forward thinking, etc… Wouldn't you love to have people inside of your organization with these traits? You should. Intrapreneurs are entrepreneurs that work inside of an organization instead of off on their own. You can foster the intrapreneurial spirit inside of your organization by letting employees test their ideas out, experiment, pitch new projects, and run with the ideas that have potential. There are several organizations that are allowing employees to be intrapreneurial such as LinkedIn, Adobe, and AT&T. For individuals this means that you have to have entrepreneurial skills in order to succeed and get ahead. You have to be scrappy, resourceful, and curious. Don't just wait for your manager to tell you what to do next, don't just think inside the box, don't get pigeon-holed into a certain job description. Don't be afraid to take an idea and run with it. Operates like a small company Organizations can no longer afford to be bogged down by bureaucracy, not in this fast paced world we are living in. No matter how many employees you have you have to operate like a small company. Small companies are agile and adaptable. They are able to make quick decisions and pivot at a moment's notice. Again, with the pandemic I think companies have been forced to do this for now. We all had to act quickly at the beginning of 2020. But if you want to succeed in the future you have to be able to continue to act small and agile. You will not win if you operate at the speed of sludge. Are your employees empowered to make their own decisions or do they have to go through multiple levels of hierarchy to get an answer? Do you have small enough teams or do you have 40+ people in meetings? Do you allow employees to run with ideas or do they have to sit in back to back meetings all day? Don't tell me it's not possible to make quick decisions, we've all had to do it this year. And if you can do it for COVID-19, you can do it anytime. Focuses on "want" instead of "need" In the past when there was a position to be filled inside of an organization the leaders would post a job ad and qualified candidates would apply. There would be an interview and the candidate had to convince the interviewer why they would be the best fit for the position. It was always assumed that the candidate needed a job and they were at the mercy of the organization to hire them. It was about what the candidate could bring to the organization. Now with globalization and the fact that individuals can work pretty much anywhere around the world as well as the fact that it is a lot easier to be an entrepreneur and do your own thing now it is no longer the individual who has to do the selling. Individuals have so many choices, they don't have to settle for anything. It is up to the organization to prove it is a place where the individual would want to work. In order to attract the best talent you have to create an organization where people want to come work, you cannot assume that they need the job anymore. Adapts to change faster The world is moving at such a fast pace. Organizations can no longer afford to take a "wait and see" approach. They cannot sit back and follow in the path of what others are doing. In order to succeed organizations have to look forward, act fast, and move more swiftly. Things will never be as slow as they are right now. This goes for technology, workplace trends and also reacting to current events. Innovation everywhere Does your organization allow anyone to come forward with a new idea? Or do all of your innovations come from a certain department or level of hierarchy? In order to succeed in this rapidly changing world of work, innovation has to come from anywhere and everywhere inside your organization. And ideas and innovation are two different things. Ideas happen all of the time. We all have hundreds of ideas every single week. But it's the process of taking an idea and actually turning it into something that leads to innovation. Does your organization allow anyone to come forward with an idea? If an employee has a suggestion, feedback, or an idea do they have the potential to do something with it? Runs in the cloud On-premise technologies have a shelf life, and their days are surely numbered. If your organization is purely operating with on site servers and technologies it won't be long before you fall behind your competition. The future is cloud based technology. It allows organizations to scale up or down very quickly. More women in senior management roles This is a big one. We have made some progress here, but not enough. Less than 8% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. We need much more diversity in our leadership roles. Without diversity in leadership, companies are missing out on a huge talent pool that brings with it a new set of skills, mindsets, and perspectives. How can you properly serve your customers and create new products and services if everyone on your leadership team is exactly the same, without any diversity? We definitely need more women leaders. Flatter structure The stereotypical hierarchical structure that we have seen in most of our organizations is the pyramid with the CEO at the top and multiple layers in between them and the frontline workers. We can agree that while some structure inside of organizations is good, we need to have a more balanced system. Information, communication, and ideas should not all come from the top down. It should move from side to side, from the bottom to the top as well as the top down. It doesn't need to be flat, but it needs to be flatter. We need less layers between frontline workers and the CEO. This principle helps with agility and nimbleness as well as creating purpose and meaning for employees. When the organization is flatter and communication is flowing freely, employees have a better sense of what is happening inside the organization and why. Tells stories We like to tell stories to our customers through our websites, social media, TV ads, etc...So why don't we take time to create stories for our employees? Stories help us to connect emotionally with an idea or a brand. They paint a picture and make values and purpose come to life. Employees want to work for an organization that they believe in. They want to find value and purpose in the work they do everyday and what better way to explain the organization's mission then through stories. When they know what they are working for employees are more likely to go above and beyond. We all want to know that what we do every day impacts our community and our world. Take the time to tell your company's story to every single employee. Democratizes learning Just as learning in our schools is outdated, learning inside of our organizations is outdated. It is too structured and formal. If you sign up for a learning opportunity at work most likely you are going to watch a video from the 80s or you will attend a scripted lecture with someone going through a PowerPoint. Learning should reflect the year we live in. If it is so easy for me to learn something on my own through YouTube or Khan Academy or Coursera why can't it be the same way inside our organizations. Learning has to be democratized. It must be put into the hands of every employee because every employee has something to teach and every employee has something to learn. Shifts from profits to prosperity Profit is the financial gain that an organization receives and it is the primary measure of success inside of most organizations. But prosperity looks at much more than money. It looks at employee health & wellness, community involvement, diversity & inclusion, sustainability, etc… The purpose of a business can no longer be just about making money, it's about impacting all stakeholders. Not shareholders, stakeholders. Our communities, partners, suppliers, vendors, customers, and employees all have a stake in the success of the business. We have to move away from just the dollars and cents and focus on the greater impact our organizations make on the world around us. Adapts to the future employee and the future manager Organizations that want to succeed in the future of work have to be able to adapt to the future employee and the future leader. Leadership is changing in a big way, for more information on how it is changing you can check out my new book, The Future Leader. But organizations need to know what the future of leadership looks like and make sure they are promoting the right people to those positions. Organizations also have to stay on top of what employees want and need. We cannot just continue on and assume that we can succeed while continuing in the old ways of working. Right now, we're seeing such an amazing time and exciting evolution around how we work, how we lead, and even how we structure our companies. Don't get stuck in the old way of doing things. We must continue to adapt, learn, explore, and grow if we want to avoid getting left behind. This episode of Future of Work is supported by Teamistry, a podcast that tells the stories of teams who work together in new and unexpected ways… to beat the odds. Each episode tells a unique story and provides practical lessons for your team and your business. I got a sneak peek of season 2 and was immediately sucked in with its documentary-style narration, details about stories I thought I knew but didn't, and practical lessons that I was able to apply to my business. Check it out at here.

People analytics is crucial to creating great experiences. I was once speaking overseas to a large organization that was very interested in investing in employee experiences. The Chief HR Officer said that the average tenure in the organization was eight to ten years. I told him that was great and asked him why that was, but he said he didn't know. He also said, "When people do leave the company, they always leave at the two-year mark." But when I asked what happened at the two-year mark, he said he didn't know. Without people analytics, you don't have data. And data is what helps you truly know your people. Look at the data you already have about your people--engagement data, salary data, geographic data, demographic and background data, performance review data, etc. You have a lot of ways to find data and learn about your employees. This episode is sponsored by Teamistry, a podcast by Atlassian. Check them out at http://bit.ly/fowatlassian

We are facing a leadership crisis today. The world of work is changing, which means we need a different type of leader to guide our people and organizations to success. The old ways won't work anymore. In my newest book, The Future Leader, I interviewed over 140 CEOs from around the world to get their view of how leadership is changing, what it's going to look like in the future, and what we need to do now to be future-ready leaders. One thing was clear in all of their responses, what has worked in the past will not work in the future. We need a new kind of leader. Leadership can no longer be based solely on confidence, seniority, the ability to make money for the company, acting like you know it all, etc... Another thing that I found in my research for the book was the lack of leadership training inside of organizations. Most people become leaders in their mid to late 20s, but most leaders have admitted that they didn't receive formal training until they were in their late 30s and early 40s. That means there is a period of 15-20 years where leaders inside of our organizations are leading, but they haven't been taught how to do it effectively. No wonder we have such a lack of strong leadership. But just because you don't receive formal training inside of your organization doesn't give you a free pass to be an ineffective leader. You can take training into your own hands. You have the ability to learn what you need to know to be the best leader you can be. The first step is answering a tough question If you are ready to be a future-ready leader, the first step you need to take is to define leader and leadership for yourself. What does it really mean to be a leader? It may seem like a simple question, but it is actually the hardest question for the 140+ CEOs I interviewed to answer. We see leaders in action every single day, whether they are good or bad. It is something so common, that we don't tend to spend time defining leadership because we assume everyone knows what it is. It's like water. You wouldn't explain water to someone, because we all just know what water is. But defining leader and leadership is such an important step. Without a definition we get inconsistency inside of our organizations. Most organizations have some great leaders that people love and some horrible leaders that people can't stand. That wouldn't happen if we had a clear definition of leadership. It would help put filters in place that help the right people get promoted to leadership positions. If you want great leaders, start by defining what a great leader is. And use that definition to promote people inside of your organization. The Notable Nine From the interviews that I did with the 140+ CEOs I ended up with four mindsets and five skills that leaders need to adopt in order to succeed in the future of work. They are: Mindsets: Explorer: Become a perpetual learner, be curious and focus on agility and adaptability Chef: Learn how to balance humanity and technology Servant: Serve your leaders, your team, your customers and yourself by being humble and vulnerable Global Citizen: Surround yourself with different people and look at the big picture Skills: Futurist: Look towards the future and think through different scenarios Yoda: Practice emotional intelligence and empathy Translator: Develop listening and communication skills Coach: Motivate and engage others and create effective teams across geographies and generations Technology Teenager: Embrace new technology and be tech-savvy Leaders must be like lighthouses On the cover of my book is the image of a lighthouse. And I think it is such a great visualization of what a leader should be. A lighthouse is designed to help mariners and explorers reach their destinations, but in a safe way. It helps travelers keep out of shallow waters, off of the rocks, and away from danger. And I think of leaders in very much the same way. The whole purpose of a leader is to guide their people and organizations to success, but in a safe way. With the nine skills and mindsets leaders can build themselves up to be a lighthouse so that they can shine a bright light onto the sea of uncertainty that we're all a part of. But one thing a lot of leaders forget is that if there are no ships in the water, then a lighthouse is useless. Without great people to lead, a leader is pointless. Leaders can't just focus on building themselves up, they must also focus on the success of their people. This episode of Future of Work is supported by Teamistry, a podcast that tells the stories of teams who work together in new and unexpected ways… to beat the odds. Each episode tells a unique story and provides practical lessons for your team and your business. I got a sneak peek of season 2 and was immediately sucked in with its documentary-style narration, details about stories I thought I knew but didn't, and practical lessons that I was able to apply to my business. Check it out at this page

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit a lot of organizations hard in a way that they might never recover. Some of these organizations have chosen to let thousands of employees go just to make their numbers better. And it got me thinking, what if organizations couldn't fire people when the company didn't meet its numbers? Would they be able to come up with creative solutions to keep those people employed? Would they do things differently? Cutting employees should always be the company's last resort. Employees are the greatest asset of organizations around the world.

Jim Heppelmann is the CEO of PTC, a technology software company with 6,500 employees in 30 countries. Jim was named one of "7 IoT leaders to Watch in 2017" by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, he was recognized as "IoT CEO of the Year" by PostScapes, "Technology CEO of the Year" by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, and he received the CAD Society Leadership Award for his work with the Internet of Things. Together with Harvard Professor, Michael Porter, Jim has co-authored three highly influential articles on the transformational impact of the Internet of Things on business. David Cote is the former Chairman and CEO of Honeywell and author of the bestselling book, Winning Now, Winning Later: How Companies Can Succeed in the Short Term While Investing for the Long Term. During his time at Honeywell David fixed a toxic work culture and grew the company's market capitalization from around 20 billion to 120 billion, delivering returns of 800%. Currently David is Executive Chairman of Vertiv Holdings Co, a global data center products and services provider. He is a member of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group on Foreign Relations and the Conference of Montreal. Both Jim and David have had unlikely paths to being the CEOs of two well-established, global companies. Jim grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota as one of eight children. In college he studied mechanical engineering with an emphasis on computer-aided design. It was actually one of his older sisters who inspired him to attend college and study to become an engineer in the first place. After she graduated from college and got her first job she was already making as much as their parents, and Jim was amazed by that. So engineering brought him to college, but once he got there he fell in love with computer science. He studied at the intersection of where software meets engineering. David nearly quit high school, because although he was good at school, he hated it. He ended up sticking with it and became the first one in his family to graduate high school. David was accepted to the University of New Hampshire, but decided he didn't want to pursue college so he went to work as a mechanic with his dad in a small garage. After that job didn't pan out he went to Michigan to work as a carpenter with his uncle, but learned he wasn't good at that either. So he enlisted in the Navy for six years on a nuclear submarine. The day before he was supposed to swear in he called the chief petty officer and asked what would happen if he didn't show up. And although the chief petty officer made it sound almost impossible to get out of, when David realized cops wouldn't just show up at his door and arrest him, he made the decision not to go. After that David decided to go to college, but after two years there the Assistant Dean of Students told him he could no longer live on campus because he was too much of a troublemaker. So, needing some money, David decided to get a job working second shift while going to school, which he did for 6 months, when a buddy of his invited David to come work with him on a fishing boat in Maine. Because he was spending so much time on the boat he ended up doing very poorly in school, so he decided to quit. He ended up getting married and one month later his wife was pregnant with their first child. David says this is the moment he realized he had to do something, he had to get direction and stay focused. He was scared he wouldn't have enough money to raise their child. And from that moment on he had a purpose and a focus that has brought him to where he is now. David's advice on how to lead in tough times Leaders today are definitely leading through difficult times, and David has led through his share of challenging times as well. He says one of the toughest times was the great recession of 2008-2009. And he knows how it feels to be in the middle of a crisis and feel like it is the worst one ever. But it is important to realize that while these recessions are unique, there are certain actions that we can take regardless of the situation that can help organizations to survive it. David's advice for anyone leading in tough times is: Don't panic Make sure that you keep thinking independently Never forget to put the customer first Be thinking about the recovery even while you're in the middle of the recession What to do if you feel stuck in your job Some people may read or hear David's background story of what he went through before he became CEO of Honeywell and they may feel like they are in a similar situation where they feel stuck in a job. Maybe you feel like there is not a clear progression forward in your career. David gives his advice to people in this situation, some things that helped him get to where he is now. And he breaks this advice up into a few different points. First of all, you have to have performance, and your performance can't just be okay. You've got to be like the top 10%. Where you went to school makes a difference for your first job, after that it is up to how you perform. Be a standout in all you do. You also need visibility. If you are performing very well, but the person who can do something about your career can't see it, nothing will happen. So make sure you have visibility. But you have to be careful with this one because you don't want to go around tooting your own horn or wearing your ambition on your sleeve. It is a delicate balance. If you have a boss who doesn't feel that you are performing as well as you think you are, this is where you have to be self aware and figure out is there something you can fix or do you just have a bad boss, which David says happens less often than people think. So learn to be self aware and realize when there is something you need to fix. We all have issues, and it's important to know what they are. Achieving work-life balance as a CEO As the CEO of 6,500+ employees, Jim seems very relaxed and happy. He doesn't seem stressed out at all. One thing that has helped him with this a lot is having a work-life balance. He not only leads the organization, but he also makes time to spend time with his family, take care of the animals on his farm, and cook. But that wasn't always the case. Jim says when he first became a CEO he burned the candle at both ends, he tried to do everything on his own. And overtime he learned that was not sustainable. When sharing what he learned he says, "what I should do is focus my energy where I really bring a lot of value to the table, again, which tends to be around product strategies, marketing strategies, marketing messages, competitive strategies, and so forth. And let somebody else manage the financial plan, let somebody else manage the professional services margins, and things like that because I don't need to do that and I don't bring a tremendous quality to it, you know, nothing super unique or special. And at the end of the day, you've got to pick your battles, there's just not enough time for a CEO to be in charge of everything. So I got a lot happier after I realized I should roll with the punches and just really add value where I think I have the most value to add." This is such great advice for all CEOs, don't try to have your hand in all the cookie jars. Don't take everything upon yourself and don't think you have to have all the answers. You will get burnt out that way. Surround yourself with people who are good at what you are not good at and rely on them. Three ways to battle entrenched thinking No matter what industry you work in, you may find that people around you are entrenched in old ways of thinking, especially if they have been in a certain role for a long time. People don't like change, it's just a fact of life. So how do you change that? Jim has three ways that he battled entrenched thinking inside of PTC when he first joined. Make change part of your company branding--Create a company culture that likes change. Part of what Jim did to change the culture was he adopted some slogans like Take a Fresh Look. Everything about the company should embrace change and discourage getting complacent. Lead by example--Live out the values you want to see inside your organization. If you want employees to embrace change, you must first be the one to embrace change. Make sure people know it is not about making one change and then staying there, it is about constant change. The point is to try to be that company who changes all the time, you can't pin them down, because they're too busy changing. Celebrate change--Recognize individuals who step out and do something different, even if what they tried didn't work. Jim and David may not have thought about being CEOs growing up and in their early careers, but it goes to show that no matter what your past looks like, you can achieve greatness. Every leader has their own unique path to greatness, every individual has their own unique path, to unlock the potential of who they are. We all deal with our own challenges and obstacles, but it is important to remember that your past does not dictate where you can go and what you can achieve. If you have a growth mindset, meaning you believe you can continue to grow and develop throughout your life through dedication and hard work, then you can achieve great things. So what is your story going to look like? I hope these two stories from David and Jim motivate you, inspire you, push you and get you to realize that you can build and shape a future that you want to have for yourself.