Leadership

I spent the last few days at the Path for Growth Leadership Experience. The content was amazing, and the people attending were even better. My hope for every person reading this blog is that they find a conference or group where they can be encouraged and replenished as I was at this event. 

I was there to learn about leadership and gain insights about our business. 

My goodness, did I ever! In fact, there are too many lessons to list. I am sure I will sprinkle them into this blog in the coming months. 

The conference reinforced several vital ideas that are worth revisiting. In fact, I’m intentionally emphasizing three points I discussed in my previous post. This repetition serves two purposes: firstly, these concepts are crucial and deserve additional attention; secondly, one of the leadership lessons I learned at the conference was the importance of consistent reinforcement. Leaders must continually remind their teams of essential principles. So, consider this your reminder of these vital concepts:

Put God first

First, I need to put God first in my life. Let me cut to the chase: I have struggled with inner peace this summer. Nothing profoundly bad has happened, but there have been a bunch of little things that have been frustrating. Isn’t this how life works? 

The problem is that I’ve been centering my prayers on external circumstances — like some hip pain I have experienced playing golf or other physical symptoms. There is nothing wrong with praying about minor health ailments. In fact, if you are going through one right now, there is no better place to turn. 

But God is not a genie in the bottle. 

I have discovered that peace is found only after turning to the off-ramp of your circumstances and onto the country road of God’s sovereignty. It is born from the prayer “Let your will be done,” which isn’t to say that you should not ask for the things that are on your mind, but that you should ask from a place of trust that whatever happens is God’s will and therefore better. 

I need to seek him first, my needs second. 

I confess that I have lacked peace this summer because I drifted. If you have similarly drifted, maybe this is your reminder to seek God first. 

Home life with Sarah

I spent a lot of time this week reflecting on my home life with Sarah. As I said in my last post, I want to be a better husband. But what does “better” even mean? I am considering writing success statements for my marriage, starting with I want to adore my wife and make her feel adored. 

She would have to chime in and evaluate how I have done this year. What I can say is that I know there have been times when I allowed stress to eat at my joy. Often, she and the kids have gotten the leftovers of me, not my best. This is not how I define success.

This was another area of drift for me. With the peace of God, I am rejuvenated to be the best version of myself for Sarah.

My opportunity to make a lasting impact on the world

Third, the conference reminded me that my relationship with my kids is my best opportunity to make a lasting impact on the world. The people they become, the relationship we mutually create, and how they glorify God in their lives — this is primary. 

I need to enhance my attention, focus, and energy here. The years are flying by — as I knew they would — so I need to be intentional about how I am investing my time with them. Furthermore, I need to come home knowing that my purpose is only beginning that particular day. Therefore, I need to be at my best for the three kids God has blessed me with. 

This was another area of drifting for me. Again, with renewed focus on what matters most: God and Sarah, I can be recharged to be the best version of myself for my three kids. 

A time to reprioritize

I went to a leadership conference — and quite frankly it was a reprioritization conference for me. 

I love the work we do at Hoffer Plastics. I hope I convey that in these posts. 

But life is an all-inclusive adventure, which means that leadership is too, because leadership is about humans doing things with humans. 

Therefore, I implore you, and myself, to get these things right. 

As Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Seeking this first has been the only way I have found the fullness of life. 

With two boys playing on four baseball teams this spring, I decided to take the year off from coaching. I thought it would give me the opportunity to drive the boys to their practices and games and help Sarah manage the chaotic schedule. While I suspected I would miss certain aspects of coaching, I also thought that I would not miss the chaos of leaving work early to get to games and practices. 

Early in the season, I discovered that I was not going to simply spectate. Given my interest in leadership, I soon realized that I had a literal front-row seat to how four different volunteer coaches went about coaching their players. 

Here is what I learned:  

Positive affirmation enhances confidence and performance 

Both boys had coaches who are more positive than just about any coach I know. Will’s in-house coach has positive nicknames for his kids. For example, Will’s nickname is “stud.” “Hey stud,” he will cheer, “you got this.” Then I see my son’s shoulders lift a little higher, and unsurprisingly, so does his play. 

Meanwhile, one of Ben’s coaches similarly talks about the kids using the positive tense. “You are going to get a hit here,” he says with a huge smile. One kid, for example, looked so lost during the first part of the season that I did not think he had a chance. And then you know what happened? One Monday night in early May, he got an RBI base hit! We all clapped and cheered, but no one cheered louder than the coach. 

This has challenged me to use positive affirmations much more than I currently do. I want to be like both of these leaders. I keep asking myself, what positives do I see when I walk around our facility? And more importantly, am I sharing those with the people making those positive things happen? 

Are you doing the same where you work?  

The leader sets the tone of the team. 

One of the boys’ all-star teams struggled this year. The coaches on that team, all volunteers, were trying their best. They were very competitive, just like I am at the workplace. As the season progressed, the team become tight, afraid to make mistakes, and their play suffered. Their pitchers were “aiming” the ball instead of throwing it, and the batters were gripping the bat a little tighter with two strikes. It was a rough patch that all baseball teams go through. 

In the midst of it, things took another turn on a Friday morning via the team’s chat message board. One of the assistants posted that he wanted to teach the boys how to throw curve balls at that evening’s practice. He meant well, and I honestly believe he just wanted to teach them a new skill that could help them. But chaos ensued. Every parent voiced their discomfort teaching twelve-year-olds how to throw curve balls. While I agreed that this was a bad idea, I did not want to pile on. 

Then the head coach spoke up: 

“On this team, we will not throw curve balls.”

He then did something brilliant by sharing a Word document with the exact practice plans for the night.

I discovered that despite a leader’s best efforts, there will be times when they are not aligned with their team. When that happens, it is important to set the tone and be transparent. Our coach’s leadership reminded me that I need to make sure I give crystal clear direction to our team and be as transparent as possible. 

What message do you need to share with your team? 

Celebrate the wins

Finally, one of Ben’s coaches made a rule during April that he would take the kids to Dairy Queen after every third win. In all my years of coaching Little League, I have never seen more focus or hunger (literally and figuratively) than this team when they were on the verge of getting that third win. 

As of this writing, they are 10-3 on the season. In fact, the other night was another Dairy Queen Monday night. While I took two of my three kids home after the game (we did Dairy Queen pre-game to accommodate my daughter’s bedtime!), Sarah went with Ben to DQ. When she came home, she told me what had happened: 

“Mark (the Head Coach) was like one of the kids. As the kids convinced their parents to honk their car horns as they passed, Mark just laughed and laughed.” 

I have so much to learn from Mark. As a Type-A leader I should probably start by taking our team to DQ and having fun. 

I also have to celebrate the wins when they come because leadership is hard. 

And you know what?  

So should you. 

Coming home 

I will end this post unconventionally. As a dad in the thick of little league busyness, I often hear older parents advise that I will miss all this. At the risk of sounding awful, I do not think I will miss about 49% of it. I won’t miss parents arguing with umpires, I won’t miss always feeling like I am in a hurry to leave Hoffer Plastics and make the game on time — leaving me with a guilty feeling on both ends — and I certainly won’t miss the little league coaches that take it all way too seriously. 

But there is 51% that I am going to miss. I am going to miss my son Ben fist pumping, as he did 45 minutes ago when I told him Will’s team needed him to play up tonight; I am going to miss coaches like the ones I mentioned above. And more than anything else, I am going to miss having a game of catch with my boys on an early summer night—so much so that I had to pause my writing before continuing writing this post…

I actually had one of those moments last night. Will was pitching on the mound, Ben and I played catch on the side while watching his game, and Sarah and Sadie were in the stands. 

My little league dreams might not have come true, but my Field of Dreams did. And thanks be to God and his goodness, I hit the home run I dreamt of as a little boy.

“Dad, can we have a catch?”

“I would like that Ben.”

I was recently driving down a busy street in our city and came up to a light that had turned yellow. Instead of driving through the yellow light, I tapped the brakes and stopped as the light turned red. However, the car next to me went through the yellow light and made it in the nick of time. 

As I sat there waiting, my mind turned to my behavior. Why did I stop? I don’t always stop when the light turns yellow, so why did I stop this time?  I also began to wonder about red light cameras and their effectiveness. The presence of a red light camera influences my behavior as I don’t want to pay for an unnecessary ticket. But I often don’t even realize there’s a red light camera until it is too late. So, how effective are they? 

Like any punitive measure, one has to wonder what the real motive behind red light cameras is. Is it truly safety? Or is it to generate revenue? And would something else be more effective in creating safer driving conditions? What if, for example, instead of a ticket for people who go through red lights, people who slow down were given some kind of reward? 

Imagine a letter coming in the mail: “Congratulations, because you practiced safe driving on April 23rd, you are being entered into a drawing for a $500 Amazon gift card. Thank you for being a safe driver!” Would such a letter be more effective in influencing you to slow down at intersections? 

The more I thought about this, the more my mind turned to what we do at Hoffer Plastics. How many “red light cameras” do we have? How often are we only looking to catch people doing something wrong instead of looking for things they are doing to keep people safe or make things better?

This was a humbling thought.

What if, on the other hand, we started looking for things people were doing well? 

Catch Them Doing Things Well

For example, what if a camera caught someone following a safety procedure? What if we could go up to that person and thank them? 

Or, what if we saw somebody being a good teammate? What if a company leader went to that person and handed them a gift card to treat some of their teammates to lunch? What kind of difference would that make? 

Finally, what if we observed someone picking up a part on the floor or sweeping a mess? What if we smiled and affirmed how valuable this was to our business and the cleanliness of our facility? What difference would that make? 

I’ve come to discover that catching people doing things well and encouraging them changes cultures more deeply than punitive measures. 

And If I’m really honest, getting recognition for stopping at a red light would improve my driving more than the threat of a red light ticket… 

If your year has gone like mine, it has not been easy. The manufacturing economy is not exactly humming, team members are paying more for everyday goods, and still, everyone is working hard to make things better. 

Nowhere are my expectations higher than around safety. While the goal of business is to provide a product or service that adds value to others, leaders have to ensure that people stay safe in doing so. To that end, I want to share a few thoughts on two kinds of safety in this post.  

Physical Safety 

Physical safety should be blatantly obvious. No one should ever be physically (or emotionally, for that matter) hurt at work. Training helps in both regards. 

I was caught off guard late in the first quarter when a new team member said, “I have never been trained more than at this company.” Please understand that I think that says more about their previous company than ours, but we have emphasized training over the last few years. In other words, we want our people to be safe, and the best way we know how to do this is for them to be prepared. 

A month or so later, one of our work areas had a health emergency. The team members in that area did exactly what they were trained to do. As of this writing, all ended well, and the team member who experienced the emergency is very thankful. 

The hero in the situation above (and they wouldn’t describe themselves as a hero) said, “I was prepared.” 

Dear Lord, help me lead in a way that our people are ALWAYS prepared. 

Psychological Safety 

At the start of the second quarter, I started reading Amy Edmondson’s book The Fearless Organization. Her book explains the need for psychological safety, which she defines on page 17 as “safety (that) pertains to expectations about immediate interpersonal consequences.” 

In short, this kind of safety allows people to speak up in an organization. The book details why people fail to — and you should buy Edmonson’s book to read them all! What stood out was the need to create a culture that listens to everyone. This takes more than reminding people to speak up! She writes on page 82 that “…expectations about speaking up must become institutionalized and systemized for people to speak up.” 

How do we institutionalize this, I wondered? The best answer I came up with was to go to the people, set up small meetings — a mini town hall in a sense — and listen to what they had to say. As co-CEOs, my sisters jumped on that train as well! 

To date, we have done this with a few groups and learned a lot. While this is only the tip of the iceberg — another area we’ve been emphasizing has been in team meetings with our executive team and the willingness to weigh ALL ideas — we are committed to seeing it through. We want to be a company that keeps people physically and emotionally safe and allows them to voice their insights loudly.  

I also need the Lord’s help for this.

Dear Lord, help me be the kind of leader who not only hears people but listens to them. Give me the wisdom to change when necessary and the humility to act. Overall, help me keep people safe! 

I went to grade school in the 1980s. And if you’re of a certain age, you remember that going to the computer lab was a big deal back then. In fact, one of my favorite things to do when I earned free lab time was to play The Oregon Trail. My buddies and I competed, as only pre-adolescent boys can do, by seeing who could race towards Oregon the fastest. But none of us ever made it close to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. We pushed our digital families to the extreme, usually ending in their in-game demise of some disease like dysentery. 

I shouldn’t be surprised that my own boys (who now play the game on an iPad!) basically do the same thing I did back in the 80s. They push their crews fast, ignore the health warnings, and laugh when their characters give out. After watching this for long enough, I decided to give the game a try as an adult.

The first decision I made was on the crew. I ensured the crew had diverse backgrounds and talents. I read each character’s profiles, ensuring I had people who could fix things, socialize, and even negotiate. Next, I made sure to buy extra medical supplies and food for the journey. After all, I thought, you never know what kinds of obstacles are going to come up on the Oregon Trail! 

As I started the game, I chose “walking” as our pace because I didn’t want to burn anyone out. I also made sure to allow our team to rest whenever the computer gave me the option. I even had the team stop and talk to people on the journey so that my “social health” indicator stayed green. 

About an hour later, with my crew all still healthy and progressing toward Oregon, my son said to me, “You’re good at this game!” 

The Leadership Lesson  

What I learned from this gameplay was three things: 

First, I learned that to do well in the game, you must lead people well. In short, that means you ensure they’re fed, that they have medical supplies, and they can take breaks and rest when they need to. Additionally, you must ensure there’s enough social interaction for everyone to stay engaged and healthy. And in case you miss the implication, this is exactly how you lead people in real life as well! 

Second, understanding the “how to” of leading others is only the first part of it. The most important part is actually doing it. That means helping your team slow down when they get tired, and providing opportunities for social interaction when it’s needed — along with countless other things that you have to observe and act upon. This all takes awareness and a desire to help people. 

Lastly, to do all the above, you have to lead yourself well. It’s often easier to do these things for others than for yourself. But pushing yourself past fatigue, failing to rest, and neglecting to make time for social interaction will negatively impact your health — all things that can make you sick and make you less effective in leading others. 

So how can you apply the above lessons to your leadership as we enter the summer months? Think about these questions:

Do you need to provide your team with opportunities to socialize? 

Do you need to provide your team with opportunities to rest? 

Or do you need to focus on yourself? 

Do you need to socialize? 

Do you need to rest? 

The start of summer is a good time to take this quick assessment so that you can stay on track for the second half of the year. 

As I sat overlooking the Pacific Ocean on a beautiful early January morning, I asked myself that very question. I watched the waves and began to ponder life, leadership, and family. What follows are questions I jotted down that morning:

What do you see? Do you see the blue water, or do you see the vast mountains on the horizon beyond the water? Both are beautiful, but the latter is only noticeable when you are focused and present. 

Are you focused and present? Not just in this moment, but at the dinner table after a grueling Monday? 

Do you see the grumpy person in front of you at the grocery checkout line, or do you see someone who just needs some encouragement and affirmation?

Do you see only the limitations of those around you at work, or do you see their potential? 

Do you only see their few mistakes, or do you their vast goodness? 

Do you see another day filled with meetings and tasks, or do you see another day filled with opportunities to do things with and through other people? 

Do you see your own past? All your failures, limitations, and most embarrassing moments. Or do you see lessons, possibilities, and future moments of redemption? 

Do you see Jesus or at least the goodness of people who are passionately following Him? Or do you just see all the things that annoy you about Christians, the church, and religion in general? 

(This last one might be more for me, but let it guide your deepest human relationships as well).

And finally, do you see your wife and all the sacrifices she is making to homeschool your kids? Do you let her know how much you appreciate and love her? 

And now I’m off to remind Sarah how much I appreciate and love her because I DO see it!

In the meantime, I challenge you to ask yourself what you see — and learn from the answers.

Patrick Lencioni defines The Ideal Team Player as someone who is humble, hungry, and smart. They possess the kind of humility that values others before themselves. They have a relentless work ethic. And they are emotionally intelligent, as they know how to prop others up and give credit where credit is due. 

I couldn’t help but think of these attributes when I attended Chris Chelios’ jersey retirement ceremony at the February 25th Chicago Blackhawks game. Chelios, one of the best U.S.-born hockey players of all time, played for my beloved Blackhawks from 1990 to 1999. These were the years when I fell in love with the Chicago Blackhawks. His hard-working demeanor was something I identified with. His willingness to get down and dirty (much like Chicago Bulls’ Dennis Rodman) motivated me to dive for every loose ball while playing basketball in the 1990s. Hockey would have been an option for me if I could skate. I couldn’t, so I settled for teeing it high and aggressively trying to hit golf balls 300+ yards. 

I didn’t know then, however, that the moment I most admired Chris Chelios was still to come. His 30-plus-minute speech at his retirement ceremony taught me so much that I had to write a blog post about it. And to take it in with my 10-year-old son, Ben, was something I will never forget.  

Humility 

Throughout the night, there were countless examples of Chelios’ humility. For starters,  Chris included a guy at the ceremony that no one in the United Center had ever heard of. Bobby Parker was a youth hockey teammate of Chelios’s, and after the Chelios family moved to San Diego, Parker made the call that changed Chelios’s life. Because of that call, Chelios ensured Parker was center stage at the retirement ceremony 40-plus years later. 

Furthermore, after being referred to as the “greatest American-born hockey player of all time” by the emcee Pat Foley, Chelios shifted the attention to Patrick Kane. Kane, another favorite all-time Chicago Blackhawk of mine, now plays for the Detroit Red Wings. Naturally, the game was against the Red Wings because Chelios also played there after his time with the Blackhawks. So when Chelios called to Kane, the spotlight literally shifted to Patrick Kane sitting on the Detroit Red Wings bench. With the spotlight shining on Kane, Chelios said, “Patrick, you are the greatest American-born hockey player of all time.” 

There was nothing planned or staged about this statement. Kane didn’t know Chelios was going to say anything. In fact, Kane didn’t do a pre-game media event because he didn’t want to detract from Chelios’ big night — even though it was Kane’s first trip back to the United Center as an opposing player. 

It was a beautiful exchange of humility or thinking more about others than yourself.  

Hunger

I don’t need to belabor this point because you don’t get to a jersey retirement ceremony without a ridiculous amount of hunger. But two things stood out to me. First, while listening to former teammates describe Chelios’ work ethic, they all said the same thing: “He outworked us.” More so, several who played against him at some point in their careers said that was extremely difficult. “Everything hurt,” former Blackhawk Jeremy Roenick said. 

Chelios commented about going to the arena during the height of the success of the 1990 Chicago Bulls and observing how hard Michael Jordan worked. “MJ had a trainer and was in top condition. So I went and got a trainer and started working hard. This is what allowed me to play in the NHL until I was 48 years old.” 

That’s the definition of hunger.  

Smart 

Of all the things about the night, however, the most impressive was the relational reach of Chris Chelios. At this event, there were people from all walks of life, from all over the country. Celebrities, former athletes, and even rock stars like my son, Ben, and Kid Rock. The only plausible reason all these people came to an arena on a February afternoon in Chicago was that Chris Chelios had touched their lives in some way. He was someone they followed because he treated them well.  

But the smartest thing he did was putting his family before the celebrities, former athletes, and even the rock stars. He rode out to the ceremony with his mother, called his wife up to the podium to be center stage, and raised the banner with his family. This is true leadership.  

As Ben and I drove home that night — after Patrick Kane scored the game-winning goal for the Detroit Red Wings, no less — I asked him what his favorite moment of the night was. 

“Without question, Chelios’ speech.” 

 Mine too. 

What a moment that we will never forget!  

What if I told you you already have access to the best supplement for your life and leadership? Meaning you already own it and it’s free. Your only cost is NOT taking advantage of it. Would you be interested? 

If you’re like me (and most people I know), you’d jump at the chance to improve your life. 

That’s why I’m willing to share what I think is a secret weapon for effective leadership: getting enough sleep.

Sleep As a Luxury

Many folks feel like sleep is a luxury, an option they can implement as needed. That’s why people say things like:

• “I can get by on 3-4 hours of sleep a night.”
• “I’ll sleep when I die.”
• “I guess I’m just permanently tired.”

I know I fit into the “sleep as a luxury” crowd. Certainly, I recognize how important sleep is — but that hasn’t helped me prioritize it. My excuses are lengthy, and I’m often tired because of them. Like many people I know, I’ve viewed sleep as a “supplement” and have seen it like a healthy protein shake or vitamin water, trying to add a little sleep to my routine when I’m taxed, sick, or overtired.

I’ve found, however, that this isn’t good enough. That’s why I’ve made “getting enough sleep” one of my primary goals for 2024. 

How Much Sleep Do We Need? 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend seven to nine hours of sleep for those in the 18-64 age range. And SingleCare’s recent survey found that 44% of Americans get less than the recommended amount of sleep. 

But my doctor brought up a good point. In my annual checkup in December, he asked, “Alex, the AVERAGE person gets under 7 hours of sleep per night. Do you want to be average?” 

He then gave me examples of high achievers and how much they sleep. For instance, he shared that Lebron James sleeps an average of ten hours per night and naps for one to two hours every afternoon. 

Now, I’m a die-hard Michael Jordan guy, but maybe I want to sleep like Lebron? 

How Much Sleep Do You Get?

Do you know how much sleep you’re getting? 

Do you know how much sleep you need? Here’s a clue: this isn’t what you think — it is what your doctor, your significant other, and the team you lead believe you need. 

What are you going to do about it? 

After my doctor’s visit, here’s the sleep routine I committed to. Feel free to use it as a starting point for customizing your sleep routine.

My goal for 2024 is to be in bed (a controllable variable) for 8+ hours on 80% of nights or 292 days of the year. That means on a typical work night, I’ll be in bed from 9:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. 

My weekend goal is not to allow my go-to-bed time to move more than an hour later, and the same goes for my wake time. The reason for this is to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm. 

I aim to do this 80% of the time because I acknowledge that some days won’t be typical — I regularly travel for work and have early wake-up calls and other obligations. That said, I’m committed to being the guy that others poke fun at for leaving work dinners early. I feel confident that my health gains will far outweigh any good-natured teasing. 

The Early Results

As I write this post, I have a few weeks of my “new” sleep schedule under my belt. And even though it’s been a relatively short time, I’m already seeing many positive results:

I was able to stay calm and focused when a personnel issue arose. The extra sleep provided the necessary reserves to handle the added stress. I didn’t break out with canker sores (a normal response for me), nor did I feel the need to medicate with an extra glass of wine at night. 

I’ve been showing up at home with more energy for my wife and kids. I want to point this out because going to bed a little earlier is also a sacrifice for Sarah. Yet, she sees a difference in me. With more sleep, I am more help for her. 

Besides noticing an uptick in my physical health, I’ve also seen an uptick in my clarity and creativity. For example, I was able to craft the message I delivered at our holiday party in 50% less time than it usually takes me to create a message.  

One Last Word of Encouragement 

I will close with one more thing my doctor told me about sleep: Certainly, robbing yourself of sleep today is something you can do. But you must realize that, like a business, you’re simply trading in future earnings to stay “alive” today. Eventually, you will become “sleep-poor” and have no reserves to cash in. 

With this in mind, what do you lose in going to bed earlier or sleeping a little later? As I’ve found, there’s much to gain. 

Last fall, I attended the Path for Growth leadership experience in Asheville, North Carolina. Path for Growth’s mission is to help impact-driven leaders step into who they were created to be SO THAT others benefit and God is glorified. In pursuit of this mission, much of the experience’s content focused on clarity. This makes sense because for a leader to be someone worth following, they need to be clear about who they are (including what they value) and what they do. 

In today’s post, I want to focus on the latter: What is it that you do? What are you focusing on in your current role? Reaching clarity on this matters because it will help you more effectively prioritize your time. 

During some downtime at the Path for Growth experience, I clarified six specific areas where I invest my focus and time. I will share what these areas are and why they matter below. Then, I’ll challenge you to do the same:

My Six Focus Areas

My role: Co-CEO 

My areas of focus: 

Safety: I see this as the most foundational area for a senior leader in any business, not just those of us in manufacturing. I say this because if there isn’t physical, emotional, and spiritual safety inside your workplace, the workplace is unhealthy at best and potentially toxic at worst. Safety allows everything else to happen. 

People: Leadership is about doing things with and through other PEOPLE (emphasis mine). This means that you don’t use people; you realize they intrinsically matter. My focus is on how I build up our people. How can I say hard things in a way that is instructive and not unnecessarily cruel? What questions can I ask to show that I’m truly interested in our production floor tech’s life outside of the floor? How can I show and demonstrate value to people every single day? These are the real questions that keep me up at night. 

Vision: Leadership is always about moving people from “here” to “there” and you can’t do that without having eyes on “there.” What are the threats, and opportunities 18 to 24 months out? What things do we (the company) need to do right now to keep our people safe in the future? What technology can we develop or invent that would improve the lives of our customers? 

Finally, what can I learn about pending regulations in our industry? And what relationships can I develop to learn more about all these topics? 

Financials: A good leader would never miss their yearly physical because doing so could mean they miss a diagnosis when it is still treatable. Keeping an eye on your business’ financials is much the same.

What complications are coming in terms of costs like healthcare, CapEx, or changes in raw materials pricing? Can the business handle inflationary wages for the foreseeable future? If not, how can the business strategy pivot so that it can? Other leaders might have different questions than mine, but our mission is to be all-in for people first, so we stay true to that. 

Sales / Relationships: Without the customer, there is no business, and without sales, the company dies. As a leader, we should be asking how we can help customers gain market share with a new design? What can we do to help them resolve production floor challenges? Who should we spend more time with, and are we prioritizing our time to do so? These questions energize me! 

Succession: My final area of focus is succession — at all levels of the organization. I recognize that our people are priceless, but I also realize that everyone is replaceable (even and especially me!)

How can we help our people end well? How can we help younger leaders level-up their leadership skills in preparation for upcoming opportunities? What kinds of people do we need for the future, and what skills is our team missing today? These are the questions that I think about regarding succession. 

What a Life!

In my private notebook, I wrote one final note that I hesitatingly share now. I hesitate because it is kind of embarrassing, but it also gives you a sense of the ah-ha feeling I hope you get when you do this exercise yourself: 

Focus on these areas and what a career! Actually, what a life! 

I invite you to spend time in the next few weeks clarifying what areas you focus on. The ah-ha may or may not come, but trust me, this exercise is worth your time.

In my previous post, I shared my experience of not having a job at the start of 2008. That experience humbled me and changed the way I view every single Monday. Every Monday that I get to go to work is a blessing. But more than this, the experience taught me that every job has value. I may not have had the job I wanted back then, but my job as a substitute teacher had honor, dignity, and value. 

So, as we start another year, let’s level set in today’s post. Since many folks use this time of the year to work on becoming a better version of themselves or start new habits, let’s begin this year getting crystal clear on a few things: 

What is a leader? 

A leader is someone worth following — and they’re worth following because of the kind of person they are. They have integrity. They’re the same behind closed doors as they are in public. You can always trust them to do the right thing, even (and especially) when doing the right thing is hard or costly. They never purposely harm. They use their words carefully, and when they say something that doesn’t come out correctly, they own it and apologize. 

That’s right — leaders are not perfect. But they are humble, and they definitely own their mistakes. 

What is leadership? 

Leadership is the process of doing things with and through other people. Leadership is never about the leader but always about those the leader serves. This process is always a journey, meaning that it is never stagnant. It always moves something, or someone, from point A to point B. 

Base camp is the “here and now,” while the summit is some future reality that moves the soul. And nothing moves the soul like the betterment of people and the reality of them stepping into who and what God has called them to be. 

So this begs today’s question: 

What does a leader always do? 

A leader always speaks meaning into those that follow. A leader reminds others that Jesus died for them — meaning their value is priceless. The person who is begging for change at the busy intersection? Their worth is incalculable, and leaders are worth following because they get this. 

Leaders see the cashier, the janitor, the grocery bagger, or the person on their production line as invaluable. They are not just doing this to be nice — they know this at their gut level. And because they know it at their gut level, they are moved to speak meaning into others. 

Leaders know that life is tough and the days can be tougher. There have been moments, even seasons, when they’ve lost sight of their own worth, and that moment of remembering was a gift of immense value — the kind of gift so valuable you’d give anything just to experience it again. 

Allow me to speak meaning into you 

Dear reader, I can’t possibly know the situation you find yourself in as 2024 starts. I don’t know all of the extenuating circumstances, nor do I know the challenges that are on your plate. As real as they are, I invite you to set them aside for a brief moment, to lean in, and let these words wash over you. 

No human leader is perfect. Sometimes, you say the wrong thing, think the wrong thought, or forget someone’s priceless value. 

And if this makes you think of a time when you messed up, sit with it for a second. Acknowledge it. Owning it makes you worth following. We don’t make excuses — that isn’t who we are as leaders. But, we can’t stay here just wallowing in it. We have to take the next step:

I invite you to pray these words: “Lord, I confess that I _____________. I ask for your forgiveness. Please help me to turn around and live differently with your help.” 

If you need a visual, write these words on a slip of paper, including your leadership mistake. Then, slip that sheet into a shredder and watch it disappear. I am reminded of these words when I do this: “…as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

Leaders live differently. We don’t live differently because we’re sufficient. We live differently because we are loved sufficiently. This love met us at our base camp and aimed to take us to a summit higher than our deepest imaginations. In the interim, we have one primary task…

Love people. 

We, you and I, get to do this every single day if we choose to. We get to speak love and meaning into those we see and interact with at work. We get to be generous to those in need. We get to remind people that they are not alone and are of incalculable worth. 

All because we were loved first.

Let’s make this year different. 

What does a leader always do? 

A leader always loves. 

Always.