Red Bike Leader

rip the training wheels off your leadership

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

basics | GET IT DONE!

by Ryan Russell | February 12th, 2009 | Posted in Uncategorized

who wants to hear anyone frustrated at them for not getting stuff done on time? not one of us, but yet, it seems that for some of us as the work load is piling up, we have a hard time just “getting it done”. so, here are some basics to consider and integrate into your work life when you need to just get some crap done, out the door and delivered.

  • get alone – find a quiet place (don’t tell me you work best at Starbucks) where NO ONE will bother you; politely tell the nosy person next to you to be quiet if you aren’t allowed to leave your work space  - when you are done you can go out for drinks and make up later.
  • set aside a chunk of time - more than you realize, most everyone has a hard time sitting still and just doing some work.
  • turn off your email & cell phone - seriously… you are wasting more time there than you realize and it distracts your focus.
  • brainstorm your tasks - EVERYTHING you need to accomplish should be in one master list. YES, it must be digital! don’t tell me your notebook works, your grandparents didn’t have to hold onto as many details as you do today. don’t worry about sorting yet, just get it ALL done on a list… think through every aspect of your life: work, projects, home, personal goals, honey-do’s, etc.
  • schedule your time – BEFORE prioritizing you list, schedule your next isolated work time right away on your calendar. go ahead, block it out as an appointment to yourself and make EVERY effort to keep it as though you were meeting with your boss.
  • most important stuff first - use just 1, 2, 3 to prioritize your list; 1 being most important. since it is on the computer you will be able to sort it (see the genius now?). 
  • do it NOW! - if there is a project that is due today, the get to work on it now! make a sub-list for the project of the things associated with it that you need to get going on. enjoy the victory of checking things off.
  • easy stuff 2nd – there might be more projects to do, but with you next allotment of time (now or that time you set aside) use it to clear a bunch of easy things off your plate. you will feel MUCH better.

 

Tech info. - if you run on a PC, then just use the Outlook task pad; I used it for years and it is VERY robust. if you are MAC, you can use THINGS, TASK PAPER, or OMNI FOCUS.

— more pointers to come —

above average

by Ryan Russell | February 8th, 2009 | Posted in Uncategorized

What if you could be WILDLY successful by being just above average?

Would you be content with that? 

In reality most of us are currently leading at just an average level, possess dreams of being spectacular but have the ability to be above average. Society and history focus on the most successful, those who achieve the top prizes and make the most important contributions. For those of us who aren’t going to attain those pinnacles there are still many great opportunities in front of us. The key is that we must not settle for mediocrity. If you just miss the olympics, you are still a pretty darn good athlete. Too many young leaders are just ‘doing a thing’ because they can’t do the most amazing thing. 

  • In what area are you settling?
  • Identity 1 area if your leadership that you can enhance with some training, coaching, stretching or new opportunities?
  • set a goal for the next 3 months do push yourself ahead.

silent rebellions

by Ryan Russell | January 31st, 2009 | Posted in Uncategorized

by instinct young leaders are often tempted to lead silent rebellions. there is something about the nature of those who have both the capacity to see what needs to be change and some personal influence with others that is great enough to get them to come with you on making the change without ever asking them to. prototypically these silent rebellions take place inside of institutions or highly structured work environments. mostly these rebellions are meaningless, but often they raise the dander of those who are in authority.

your rebellion has it origins in your early years. without explanation you saw things differently than others. a rule or boundary was placed in front of you that didn’t make a whole lot of sense and your lack of loyalty to this contrived restraint produced useful results. you got to the end of the monkey bars more quickly by skipping a over a bar. there was a short cut through a posted ‘no trespassing’ area that won the race. the possibility existed for you to dictate your papers to someone who could type much faster than you, leaving more time open for you to enjoy friends and frivolities. gathering talented people around yourself, you learned to take on more work and utilize the gifts of others rather than each of you working inside your own spaces at the job you were ‘assigned’.

so what should you do? how should you treat your need to live outside of some of the rules but still retain the critical support of those who are far more comfortable operating within bounds? I don’t have all of the answers, but here are some insights still in refinement:

  • be sure to not alienate your most important allies.
  • you have to get familiar with not being able to please everyone or enjoying universal approval for your methods.
  • give up your inclination to carry an edge to your personality all of the time.
  • be politely frank with rule followers & gate keepers but also be open to learning from influential leaders coming from a different perspective.
  • maintain a few confidants who live and see the world inside the boundaries.
  • remind yourself that you are only a leader of a worthy rebellion IF you produce POSITIVE change and IF people are coming with you.
  • you don’t need to openly rebel against everyone you don’t see eye-2-eye with… you don’t have enough time and it isn’t worth the energy. pick your spots strategically.
  • learn to submit, even when you don’t want to. this will be a very important personal trait to develop that will be highly useful at key times in your life. you are NOT in total control of your life and all of your surroundings.
  • break the ‘rules’ when you see a great opportunity to produce positive, needed change in your environment and in our world — we won’t get to new places without the likes of these people.

do the easy stuff!

by Ryan Russell | January 21st, 2009 | Posted in Uncategorized

“Why didn’t you at least do the easy stuff?”

That is one of the questions that will be put to you if/when an assignment goes off course. The person in charge will assess the situation and then see undone items that could have been accomplished with little to no effort.

For some reason there is a faulty part of the mind that says,

“if I can’t do everything, then I shouldn’t attempt to do anything”.

So here is a quick suggestion — if you have been given an enormous project and are unsure about your ability to accomplish it, at least get the easy stuff done. If you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start… start with the easy stuff. If you are stuck with ‘how to’ get a part of the project done, do the easy stuff first; it just may help you figure out how to do that other part.

Lay out a plan to accomplish the things that you are sure you know how to do. Do those things first BEFORE going to ask for help or letting the assignment fall off course.

“I didn’t know…”

by Ryan Russell | January 13th, 2009 | Posted in Uncategorized

We live in a world of excuses, alibis, defenses, fly by the seat of your pants, charm, shoot from the hip and make $#*! up.

I would like to introduce you to a little concept called PREPARATION. It is an often forgotten word that seems to need some reintroduction.

PREPARATION begins before you arrive to a task, place or situation. It is especially necessary when you have NOT been there before. It’s importance lies in the fact that other people are counting on YOU to deliver. So here are a few things to consider:

  • seek to eliminate as many obstacles to your task ahead of time
  • get to know your situation
  • ask others who have gone before you OR at least ask more experienced people who are around you OR talk with experienced people in the field 
  • use GOOGLE… it really is a powerful tool
  • call ahead OR go ahead (aka: scouting)
  • write the info. down that you are acquiring
  • do as much work in advance as is allowed
  • don’t aim to just get through but rather to excel

 

THINK it through — it always amazes me what can be accomplished by an individual that will settle themselves to take a few quiet moments to THINK HARD. By just looking at something from multiple angles and asking questions, YOU can probably answer a majority of the for yourself OR you can think of where to find the info. you are lacking. [ Working independently is another subject for another day ]

IF there is absolutely no known way to achieve information about the situation with which you are about to take on, then certainly, you can be expectected to confront obstacles as they arise. There is something to be said for people who have good skills to adapt & lead ‘in the moment’. BUT a great leader will always take the time to prepare for a situation when time is available. 

Your responsibility as a leader is to not only achieve your objective but also to bring confidence and assurance to your followers and your leaders that you are more than capable for your role.

Resolutions for the unresolved

by Ryan Russell | January 4th, 2009 | Posted in Uncategorized

I hate resolutions. Seriously. When in the real world of things do you hear of resolutions that make a difference? 

Resolutions come at from desperate people in desperate times and aim to completely & radically alter things as they were before. Think about it. People resolve to lose 60 pounds, quite smoking cold turkey after 10+ years and never beat their children again. These are the things that resolutions are often made of. The problem with trying to go from a dead stop to a full sprint with no training is that you are going to hurt only yourself and you aren’t going to achieve your objective of winning the race. People don’t change over night and stick with it.

Resolutions aren’t in our nature AND they aren’t sustainable.

I propose that better than any new, annualized resolutions is a continued state of setting achievable, but stretching goals. Let me expand.

Dream of the future of where you would like to be in any area of your life. Come on… dream BIG!

Now, take a very honest & real assessment of where you are today. For every one of us the gap between our BIG dream and where we are today is probably quite daunting. So… here is how you can get there.

Think in terms of 4 month increments (Spring, Summer, Fall — winter doesn’t exist where i live; school semesters do though).

Say you really want to lose 60 pounds. IF your long term dream is to do that in a year I suggest giving it two… no one said EVERYTHING has to get done this year; you make the rules! So cut your goal for this year into half to 30 pounds. Divide it by 3 — you need to lose 10 pounds in 4 months. Sounds a little bit more realistic doesn’t it. Now figure out 2-4 factors that will reasonably contribute to you losing 10 pounds (and keeping them off) in the next 4 months. Could be cutting soda out, cardio exercise 3 times each week, no more snacks after 8pm, and fries only once a week. 

I am not here to give dieting tips. Here is what i am here for – GOALS

  • Take a big dream
  • Give it a reasonable amount of time to be accomplished
  • Divide it is to smaller segments of time
  • identify 2-4 key steps to accomplish in that small time segment.
  • Evaluate your goal along the way.
  • Dream about the long term outcome.
  • Keep your head up and your mind focuses.

pull the trigger

by Ryan Russell | December 18th, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized

planning vs. action

This is a constant tension for a leader. Should you act now and then bring the plan together? OR would you garner more support & involvement if you thoroughly planned out your next big move?

80%

Perfectionists are needed on a great team, but they don’t usually make for the best leaders. If everything has to be lined up before you make a move, you will never make a move. Too many things are changing too often for you to be huddled up planning out every step you should take. PLUS you can’t see everything you need to see until you get into the mission you are aiming to achieve. 

On the flip side, “flying by the seat of your pants” may sound like a great thing to do with your recreational time, but in leadership it won’t illicit renowned support from key supporters and potential followers. If this is your style, slow down a bit! You probably get your energy from talking to people and getting things going, but you will run into some costs and troubles that you could easily avoid if you and a team think through your action plan.

Get your self, your team and your plan 80% of the way to completion and then pull the trigger and get going!

look for GREAT opportunities

One added ingredient to leadership is to recognize and do not miss GREAT opportunities. This is certainly a difference maker for leaders. It is both an art and a skill. Some risk is required here along with experience that will only be gained through lost opportunities that you were slow to act on or opportunities that you took up too quickly and then didn’t pan out as hoped. However, stick to it and you will get a better sense of these opportunities when they come your way.

in spite of

by Ryan Russell | December 15th, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized

you will never be universally received —- NEVER. everyone will never like you. the populous will always find something to critique. even your closest companions will at times seriously question you. 

SO… you still want to lead?

this internal fortitude and compass will be a defining necessity in your life of leadership. it will become especially helpful when ‘they’ were right and you were wrong. however, every wrong decision that you make will not the be the ruin of your life or your leadership forever. you will recover. some will be there to help you back up; obviously, others won’t.

IN SPITE OF THE CRITICS, THE ADVERSITY AND THE RESISTANCE, YOU MUST PUSH THROUGH AS A LEADER.

seek to find value in critique. search out other points of view. stay focused on your objectives not your means. refine your vision of the future and your personal mission. build your team. draw them close. accept wounds from your friends. keep your head up. remind yourself that you wouldn’t be happy not being the leader. keep on going. don’t settle.

gap opps

by Ryan Russell | December 10th, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized

so here is an easy one if you want to become a leader that other people respect and trust.

many people see and then over look opportunities to fill in where there is a need. not just ’service’ opportunities but leadership opportunities. often leaders are waiting for their next big assignment to prove themselves. hoping that their current work will be noticed. wishing that someone would see their skills and abilities for all that they could be. 

-– STOP WAITING! —

open your eyes. there are projects and items that are open for the leader who steps into gaps and opportunities. you know what needs to be done. you see what could be better. you can do things without being assigned or promised a promotion or a raise. it just takes a bit of initiative and personal drive; AMBITION baby!

leaders who do what they haven’t been asked to do will be the ones asked to do what everyone else wishes they could.

the path you take

by Ryan Russell | December 3rd, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized

there are thousands of mountain bike riders out on the trails. i can say definitively that they all have one significant thing within their control that they can use to differentiate themselves from others.

it is the same thing that can differentiate one leader from another. it offers one leader opportunities to enter into exceptional places & positions of influence at a young age while it takes years for another potential leader to come even close to sniffing at such heights. I have no desire to oversimplify such a complex equation, there are certainly obvious exceptions, but you certainly can enhance your leadership through critical decisions about

the path you take

these directional choices do much to determine where you end up in leadership. if your ride the same entry level trails over and over again, you will only hone entry level skills. you need to try new trails, with unexpected challenges around the corners. you can’t shy away from new challenging climbs and the thrilling rides that follow. you have to branch out and beyond your current reality that you have already mastered.

each day when you get up and get after it, you have significant choices to make: will you go the same tired routes that you already know, or will you branch out and try something new? will you go around hard obstacles that lay straight in your path or will you forge through, over or among the technical challenge that is right in front of you?

as in bike riding, leaders don’t get better by repeating conquests.

look for a new challenge – sign up for a new assignment outside of your current skill set – develop a new network  - expose yourself to new conversations and environments