One of the most challenging aspects of being a leader is having enough conviction to adhere to a decision and not be swayed by the opinions of others at the expense of what’s good for the organization. The leaders that can’t do this are described many ways: buffeted by the winds, spineless, and irresponsible. We imagine that some of you are saying, But isn’t that influence, and isn’t that part of leadership? Influence occurs when you’re presented with relevant data…
Everything is a communication… everything. — Carpenter Smith Consulting One of the things we see over and over again is that clients assume that what they say is the key to communication, and they don’t think about what their behavior is communicating. Fact: people respond to everything you do as a communication. Your behavior may be significantly influencing how other people see you and judge your success. We work with a client named Jim, who by all rights is a highly…
“The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” — Ralph Nader We define leadership as a willingness to influence your world and be influenced by your world. It is a way of being in the world, not a role or title. Therefore, great leaders nurture the leadership of others. Sometimes when we talk about the importance of leadership and of claiming your power, people get concerned that power and leadership are often steeped in control and…
One of the things clients often complain about is that after an engaged and seemingly positive discussion, nothing will happen. Sometimes they are describing a great meeting at work and sometimes they are describing a conversation with a spouse or kid. In all cases, they are baffled that they can participate in this great discussion that seems to have identified some clear next steps, and then leave it only to have nothing happen. Here are 5 things you can do…
We recently saw the movie The Martian, starring Matt Damon. In the movie, the character tells himself: “You do the math. You solve one problem… and you solve the next one… and then the next.” “You solve one problem…” is a great mantra when you are facing challenges in your life, and feel overwhelmed and concerned that you will never survive what you are going through. In the movie, Damon’s character faced death daily, and at times he cursed…
This quote is a wonderful metaphor for all those times in your life when you have believed that you should abandon your needs for someone else’s. A successful life consists of negotiations—with spouses, children, bosses, co-workers, other drivers on the road, and the rest of the people that you bump into as you do life. Some negotiations are simple and they barely register on your radar, while others are big and require lots of thought and energy. When you’re faced…
As you may know if you have been a part of our community for a while, we really believe that communication is the basis for… well, for everything. And some of the most significant difficulties occur due to the lack of clear communication. Recently, we were in a meeting that blew up. There were raised voices and accusations, there was fury and disappointment, and there was the chance that one or more people in the meeting would lose their job.…
“I never thought being a grown up would be this hard.” This was a comment in a recent meeting with a number of very successful executives. By all appearances, they are highly effective grown ups. They have well-paying positions of authority in a medium-sized, highly successful company in the northwest. They all have families and most have children. They wear nice clothes and drive nice cars. Yet, they are struggling. How can that be? It’s hard being a grown up,…
Imagine you suddenly can’t feel one side of your face. You run to the mirror to see what’s happening and you realize that it’s paralyzed on that one side. Panic starts to set in as you try to figure out what’s going on… That’s what happened to Elizabeth Stewart one perfectly ordinary night after dinner as she watched TV with her husband. “It was like having a nightmare and I kept hoping I would wake up!” Elizabeth told us. Her…
We love the entertaining and quirky TV show Grimm that is filmed and set in our hometown Portland, Oregon. The show is described on the NBC website as: A modern twist on the Grimm Brothers’ tales. It’s often a fun romp and it always starts with an interesting quote. A recent episode started with: I’ve been bent and broken . . . but I hope into a better shape. What a wonderful depiction of life’s journey. It spoke to us especially deeply as we each…
We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with leaders, teams, and individuals who are passionate about growing in their leadership and in their ability to create cultures of psychological safety and engagement.
Carpenter Smith Consulting is a Women Business Enterprise, Oregon Cert ID 7047.
