At Aegis, we're on the road a lot. Check out some of our favorite memories, stories, lessons learned from our time on the road through our blog series, "Tales from the Road". Some of stories may make you laugh, some might even pull on your heart strings, but most of all we hope you'll find some valuable nuggets on how you can be great leaders in your life.
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It’s Sunday night—7pm—time to get my week in order.
As I get comfortable in my favorite chair, I begin to envision what’s in store for the week ahead—the to do’s, meetings, projects, travel schedule, and I contently layout my master plan. As I close my laptop, I’m both excited and ready for the upcoming week. Boy, I am going to get a ton done! Fast forward to Monday morning—the phone rings. It’s one of my team members asking if I have time to brainstorm some ideas for an upcoming client engagement. I say of course because--SHIP HAPPENS. I finish that conversation and flip over to email and there’s an urgent request from a staff member who is sick. We need to find coverage for a client meeting. I immediately start triaging the situation, well you know because--SHIP HAPPENS. I blink, ready to dive into my Sunday night plan, and I see a text from my partner excited about a lead from his keynote from last week. He wants to talk now, if I can, because he’s jumping on a plane in an hour. I glance at that beautifully laid out plan, put it down, and pick up the phone because you get it by now--SHIP HAPPENS. I look up and it’s noon. My breakfast sits untouched. My coffee is ice cold. My grand plan from last night seems like a distant and foggy memory. Did I even lay out a plan? I just have to laugh; the glamorous life of a leader–yep--SHIP HAPPENS! Does this sound like your day, your week, your year?! Do you ever feel like you’re the only one who never gets to even cross one thing off your to-do list, drink your coffee while it’s hot, or use the restroom? You are not alone! With this in mind, we’d like to invite you to an exclusive and private group where we can support you, and we can help each other when SHIP HAPPENS. Whether it’s handling a difficult employee, having to give feedback, learning to let go and empower your people – Let’s come together and support each other. Let’s create a community of like-minded people who can use this forum to get and give help, guidance or share wisdom. A place where we can share our victories, ask for advice and share our best leadership moves. Let’s band together this year so we can help make each of our organizations, our lives, even better. We want to do our part. We at Aegis will be right there beside you offering our ideas, advice, and support. We’ll also use this SHIP HAPPENS group to share:
-Stacey Last week I was sitting in a cute and cozy coffee shop in Queen’s Village (in Philly) catching up on some work as I waited for a friend for dinner. I had just come from a fantastic brainstorming meeting with one of our clients and I was eager to get what I had in my head, into a cohesive plan on my laptop. I hunkered down at a table by the window that also faced the door (I’m Italian and an extrovert, what can I say!) As I sipped my latte and compiled my ideas, I was vaguely aware of what was going on around me until the belly giggles of a young girl and a deep chuckling of her Dad piqued my curiosity. I found myself chuckling too, so I looked up to see what the fun was all about.
I noticed two things when I scanned the room that made me smile even more--almost everyone in the shop was smiling, grinning or chuckling too (remember your attitude positive or negative is contagious). What was even more striking, was that most of the tables were filled with men with their kids. I decided to take a few minutes to sit back, and enjoy the moment. What a phenomenal scene. First of all, I loved, loved, loved the paradigm shift. These were Dads taking time out of their schedules to be there for their kids. Some were chatting, one duo was playing a game (a real one, not one on a computer!), a few were working on homework and others were sharing a snack. You’re probably asking yourself what this has to do with leadership---well EVERYTHING! These dads were not only being amazing role models, but they were teaching their kids the very foundational skills every great leader needs to master—the art of conversation, giving and receiving feedback, problem-solving, decision-making, listening, showing interest, balancing work/life, setting priorities, and being committed to others. These Dads were integrating their life and work while creating life-long memories that would fuel their relationships now and for years to come. Aren’t these the exact things we yearn for from our leaders? Don’t we want them to drive results but also create environments where we can be heard, feel valued, acknowledged and know we matter? Don’t we want them to make the time to talk to us not just about our to-do’s, but get to know us on a human level? Don’t we need them to model what is expected and show us that it’s okay to have a life that integrates what matters most to us so we can perform at our very best? In that moment, it struck me. If we are going to help leaders become even better, we will have to support their growth not just in the traditional sense of their organizational roles. We will have to get them to look at a more integrated view. We need to compel them to be LEADERS in their LIVES both outside and inside their work environment. In our intertwined and inter-connected world we can no longer view leadership in a vacuum. To be a LEADER in their LIVES means looking at tough topics like health, wellness, work/life integration, resiliency, stress and burnout, purpose, community involvement and career fulfillment. In this short exchange, I was able to see that the same skills needed in our work lives were the very things these caregivers brought to their interaction with their children. In developing Leaders, we need to focus on an even more integrated approach to development to highlight the connections between the two. So, this year you’re going to see us continue on our relentless pursuit of excellence around leadership (we have some amazing new ideas, tools and resources!) but we are going to add a twist. We want to start a serious dialogue with you about what it really means to be a LEADER in your LIFE. Our conversations with you in 2020 will tackle some tough topics:
What do you want your rodeo to be? -Stacey |
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