Image courtesy of Mary Jo Asmus.

Today’s piece is a guest post by Mary Jo Asmus.  Mary Jo is a former Fortune 500 executive-turned-president of an executive coaching firm, Aspire Collaborative Services.  Her company works with high potential leaders and senior executives in Fortune 100, government, and non-profit organizations around the world.  You can read more of her insights on leadership and personal development on her blog, Leadership Solutions at Aspire-CS.com.

A few years ago, I took a class to learn to make theatre masks at our local art institute. For some unknown reason, the idea of making a mask was compelling. To capture a “face” – in clay, plaster and neoprene held some fascination for me. Little did I know the impact and learning from this class would apply to the way I approached leadership.

We began the complicated process by using clay as a “negative” for a plaster mold into which neoprene would be poured to make the final product; a mask that could be used on stage by actors.

I love working with clay. It’s cool touch and ability to morph into anything I want has always held some fascination for me. I couldn’t wait to start, and scooped up the clay with gusto, making a mess and enjoying the process. At some point, perfectionism took hold of me; it took an inordinate number of class and non-class hours to create (what I thought) was the final clay mask.

I was happy with what I’d created – a flawless, realistic representation of a face. It looked exactly as I wanted it to. Surely, it was a work of art! Proud of my accomplishment, I showed it to the instructor. He praised my efforts. And then he told me to destroy it and start over.

He explained that although the mask was well-done, it was necessary for me to learn two things. The lessons I learned through this experience have surprising application to leadership: Click here to continue reading »”Don’t Get Too Attached”

As with most kids on summer break, my girls have been spending part of their days taking swimming lessons to help advance their skills in this particular sport. While attending one of their lessons, I noticed something that was reminiscent of what many companies go through when managing the growth of their organization.

For one of their lessons, my daughter’s swim teacher asked the students in her class to swim the length of the pool and then toss a ball into the basketball net. One by one, the kids took their turn swimming across the pool and attempting to varying degrees of success in getting the ball into the net.

When it was my daughter’s turn, she swam toward the basketball net and stopped to one side to take her shot. On her first try, she bounced the ball off the rim of the net. In her next shot, she tried to throw the ball with more force, which ended up sending the ball past the net and over to the other side. Although she tried and missed another two times to get that ball into the net, she never once showed any sign of wavering in trying to succeed, even though she was clearly having no luck with this exercise.

After her class, I applauded her for being so determined to get that ball in the net, but I also had a question for her – why didn’t she just swim to the front of the net where she could have had an easier time shooting the ball? As soon as I asked her this, she gave me this sheepish smile, now realizing how she had made the task harder for herself simply because of where she chose to take the shot.

Watching her single-minded focus in performing this task reminded me of how many organizations and their leaders can also Click here to continue reading »”Learning From Your Mistakes – 4 Steps To Turn Failure Into Success”

A few weeks ago, I had one of those stretch of days where Monday ended up blurring into Friday. This wasn’t because of something specific from that particular week, but more a result of an escalation in busyness that had started building up over the previous weeks. Naturally, this frantic pace was beginning to take its toll, and I knew that I should be making more time to relax and catch my breath to assess the situation. Ironically, in trying to manage this growing pile on my To-do list, the first thing I started cutting back on were those very things that I needed the most.

One night, after spending the last couple of days working at this accelerated pace, I was preparing my kids’ lunch for the next school day. While making their sandwiches, I realized that I had accidentally buttered both sides of the same slice of bread. It was a silly mistake, one that gave my wife a good laugh at my expense. And yet, it also ended up being the very thing I needed – a wake-up call to recognize that I’d been so busy simply reacting to what I was facing that I was neglecting the importance of reflecting on what tasks were the ones that most needed my attention in order for me to reach whatever goals I had for that week.

I realized that part of the problem is Click here to continue reading »”4 Questions To Help Your Team Keep Their Focus”

Photo courtesy of hael0

The wise man at the top of the mountain – it’s a timeless image many of us are familiar with when we think of the road to wisdom. Most stories about the wise man on the mountain involve someone climbing up to the summit to seek the elderly man’s counsel. These stories often serve as a metaphor for the journey each of us must take in the pursuit for greater understanding and awareness, with the wise man representing who we will become through this process. And yet, if we examine this tale from the perspective of the wise man, we’d find that there are also some valuable insights on the importance making time for reflection.

In terms of the seeker, having the wise man at the top of a mountain makes sense as it implies a challenge to reach this source of knowledge and insight. And yet, there’s an important reason why being at the top of the mountain is beneficial for the wise man as well. From his position at the summit, the wise man is able to take in the full view of his surroundings. Instead of getting caught up in the details, his focus has shifted to understanding the bigger picture, of examining how everything relates and interacts. Being up on the top of the mountain allows the wise man to be free from the distractions found in the village below so that he can instead reflect on the questions in his mind in the hope of finding some answers, if not a greater sense of awareness of the situation.

Like the wise man, it’s important that those in leadership positions take time to Click here to continue reading »”The Power of Reflection in Leadership”