Randy Cantrell

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Leadership challenges persist, but they’re not all created equally. Google the phrase and you’ll get more results than you’ll have time to investigate. Recently, prompted by a client conversation I went snooping around online. For my purposes, I was curious about what Indeed.com – the jobs marketplace – might have to say about the topic. I found an article entitled, 7 Leadership Challenges and How You Can Conquer Them. It’s a worthwhile list to consider.

Surprisingly, I found quite a few lists that had humility at or near the top – meaning, the leadership challenge is being or staying humble. Since our leadership recipe starts with humility, that’s certainly congruent with our leadership philosophy. 

No matter what list you look at, it’s wise for all of us to consider our own leadership challenges – and those within our organization (or team) – so we can minimize the problems and seize the opportunities that invariably exist within almost every challenge.

We’d love to hear about your leadership challenges. What are some leadership issues you’re currently working on? Just use our contact form and let us know. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

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Sometimes we urge people to “own it,” meaning “accept responsibility for it.” What do you think of when you hear that? 

Some think about blame and guilt, declaring, “I didn’t cause it. It’s not my fault.” But today we don’t use that phrase to assign blame. Responsibility and accountability aren’t about finger-pointing, but rather about each of us – as leaders – deciding we’re going to take ownership of our actions and behavior. And we’re going to help serve others by showing them the power of doing that in their careers and lives, too. 

Be well. Do good. Grow great!

Check out the Hosts page for our profiles.
Connect With Lisa On Linkedin •  Connect With Randy On Linkedin

We encourage you to contact us. Feedback, suggestions, criticisms, insights, experiences – they’re all welcomed. Thank you for watching and listening!

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Procrastination. Hesitation. Dread. Fear. 

They’re all employed whenever managers don’t want to have the difficult – we’re calling them – crucial conversations. 

Hiding is tempting. Sometimes we surrender to it, opting to avoid doing what we know needs to be done. Today, we challenge you – and ourselves – to behave more like buffalo and less like cattle. 

Maybe I heard it because I was born in Oklahoma, a state with quite a bit of native American history and heritage. As a boy, I remember being fascinated whenever we’d find an arrowhead. The story likely came from that Indian culture I was around as a kid. I can’t be sure. Either that or it may have been because Oklahoma is also smack dab in the middle of tornado alley. Thunderstorms are a way of life around these parts (Oklahoma and north Texas).

The illustration is powerful. It deals with buffalo and thunderstorms. For those who may not know, thunderstorms travel from west to east. Cattle and buffalo react when the dark clouds start rolling in, signifying a coming storm. The cattle run east, away from the storm. The buffalo run west, directly in the path of the storm.

Question: Which animal is in the storm the longest?

Answer: The cattle…because they’re traveling with the storm.

The moral of the story is to behave more like a buffalo. Lean into your problems. Run into the storm. Don’t hide. Fight.

We all have to endure the storms. It’s up to us how long we take it. We can be like a cow running away from it, hiding. It just means we’ll be in the storm longer. Or, we can be buffalo and fight. Face our storm by charging into it knowing that our time there will be much briefer than we ran away from it.

Storms often appear in conversations we need to have, but we’d rather avoid conversations. 

Leadership is about doing for others. It’s a focus on others. Stop thinking of yourself. Stop being fearful for selfish reasons. Instead, think about the value you can provide in the other person by having a crucial conversation that can serve them. 

We hope you find value in today’s show. Please share it with a friend. 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:09 — 48.7MB)

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Do you know what a poor relationship looks like?  I can tell you. They don’t want to help. They don’t care. They are uninterested in what you are trying to achieve.  That alone should tell you why relationships, and fostering them, are crucial.

poor relationship management = poor customer/team experience = poor culture

It’s also serving the people you lead by lifting them up. Sometimes, that’s praise. Sometimes, that’s difficult conversations to challenge them to elevate their performance. It’s always about helping them improve and grow. 

Great leaders see the future first. When it comes to relationships, it means leaders see potential in others perhaps before they even see it themselves. And we foster that in people by doing for them whatever we can. Growing great is the goal – not just for ourselves, but for everybody on our team.

How can we be what others need?

• We have to know our teammates. 
• We have to understand them.
• We have to connect with them by being truly interested in what they most want.
• We also have to figure out what they most want and how that fits within the context of our team – and the work. It doesn’t mean we can’t still serve them…but it may mean we have to help them figure out how their improved performance here can help them achieve what they most want. (HINT: We can’t behave like parents who force or coerce children to pursue what they most want. It means we must behave more like parents committed to helping the kids figure out what they most want.)

Why is any of this important?

Because it influences outcomes. It builds respect and trust while generating camaraderie. It impacts the customer experience. 

We know what good relationships feel like…and bad ones, too.  But if you are new at this, working on it, or good and it and want to continue to grow. How? Listen. Employ the leadership recipe we talked about in our first episodes: humility, curiosity, knowledge, understanding, and compassion.

Be genuine and honest. Be dependable. Be fair. Always do the right thing.

Lisa & Randy

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:25 — 48.9MB)

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Cheryl De Leon serves as Deputy City Manager over Airport, Audit Services, Budget, Communications and Marketing, Downtown, Community Services, Finance/ Human Resources, Information Technology, Library, Parks Arts and Recreation. She joins us today to discuss the art of mentoring, a topic she’s passionate about to help grow leaders in city government in Grand Prairie, Texas. City government leadership, like all other leadership, desperately needs committed mentors willing to pass it on, people like Cheryl. 

Lisa & Randy