Clear Views Blog

This is part 2 of a 9-part blog series focused on your Leadership Legacy: Playing a Bigger Game at Work. Considering that Bigger Game is a model and methodology that creates intentional, positive change, it felt natural to quote the departed, beloved Nelson Mandela. He was the epitome of a Bigger Game player; his was a life worth celebrating. In 1964 Mandela received a life sentence for committing sabotage against South Africa’s apartheid government and spent 27 years of his sentence imprisoned. In those years of imprisonment, Mr. Mandela’s hunger for social justice remained undeterred. 

As we turn our attention to the time of year when we celebrate family and eat a lot of turkey, let us take time to truly appreciate those we love. Stop and think about the people who have truly made a difference in your life--could be a family member, a partner, a husband, wife or child, a neighbor, a teacher, a policeman, a forgotten high school friend, a co-worker, your first boss, or the tough boss that pushed you too hard!

As we celebrate Veteran's Day this week and honor all those service men and women who have served our country, some with their lives, I have been reflecting on the kind of leadership that it takes to lead troops into combat. The kind of leadership that engenders followership when the ultimate price, our lives, is on the line.

One of the highlights of last week was the WAVE annual event at which we delivered the keynote and moderated a panel discussion with trailblazing women in corporate America. WAVE stands for Women Adding Value & Excellence. This three-year-old volunteer organization is the brainchild of Susan Baxley of Teradata and Christine Tombelesi of GE. The title for the event: The Conversation - From Thorns to Roses: How People Deal with Critical Conversations and, quite specifically, how women and men deal with these challenging situations.

As a current leader in a company today, you know how hard it is to find talent who can grow into bigger roles, or take on more responsibility. You may have talent who needs to step up and help lead a new change in direction. It sounds simple, ask the talent you have to find a way to do more or to stretch and grow. Yet, the single biggest problem we get asked to help solve today? Help organizations develop leaders who believe in developing others.