MOR Insight

Reflecting On What Is Working

Monday, January 25, 2016. I hope everyone had a good weekend.  I, like the rest of the Maryland cohort, spent a good part of the weekend shoveling snow and digging out from the ~30 inches of snow that fell from late Friday and most of Saturday.  And then digging out again once the wind had settled down and the snow drifts ended. I cannot begin to describe how sore I am and how strong my desire to buy a snow blower is now.  With snow removal finished and campus closed until Wednesday at the earliest what better then to reflect on this program.

Let’s Talk…

…face-to-face.  Amy Cuddy, Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and author of Presence:  Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges, recently wrote that there are lots of reasons to put your smartphones down – constantly checking and then responding to them takes us out of the present moment disrupting whatever you are focusing on:  for example, your conversation with a

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.  Before I started the leadership journey, I was doing a lot of just that. Wasting a lot of my time and mind focusing on the immediate, the unimportant, the routine tasks that certainly were not going to make a significant difference in creating, influencing, or advancing the strategic mission and goals of the university.

New Leader = Sum of (4 I’s + 4 E’s + 5 P’s + 3 Lenses + 4 A’s + 4 S’s + Spheres of Influence)

After graduation in August I was armed with a binder full of new ideas, concepts, practices and formulas on how to be an effective leader.  I found it easy to be intentional during the program which was fueled by my own enthusiasm and frequent and very useful check-ins from my coaches.  New actions and practices became part of my routine and clearly validated what we had learned during our sessions together.  I was feeling good and well on my way to being a more effective leader! Transformed and my mission accomplished!!

Reflecting on a Relationship With Gratitude

Before the winter break, I spent some time considering who would make a great example of leadership for my reflection. I kept coming back to the idea of describing my friend David, who was once a colleague of mine at another university. Over the years, we’ve kept in touch on a regular basis, and kept up with each other’s professional journeys. My work used to intersect with his department frequently, and we had long ago developed a habit of seeking each other’s constructive feedback.

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