Lean Principles in Leadership

The concept of “lean” applies to more than operations. It only took two full quarters, but I feel I finally made a breakthrough today. I’ve lived the majority of my life afraid to depend on anyone but myself when it comes to my personal life. Professionally, I trust people to do what they do, but I don’t let that carry over in other areas. In developing the leader in me, I wanted to first focus on myself as a person. I learned that by not allowing myself to lean on others, I not only do myself a disservice, but I perform an injustice unto others as well.

Although I’m not ready to jump head first into the water (I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready for that, or that that would be safe), but I have taken steps to dip my toe in the water. Not the big toe, but a toe nonetheless. Today, after weeks of living in distress, losing sleep, and feeling uncertain, I called upon a trusted colleague, professor, and mentor Mary Kay Chess. While explaining some of the things I was going through, I realized a few things. First, I was using the language of feelings. I said things like “I feel unvalued.” Secondly, I saw that others see more than you I knew. Granted, Mary Kay is extremely intuitive and experienced in personal development, she still nailed exactly what I was thinking and going though based on her observations.

So yeah, I’m learning to lean. Understanding that there is a support structure is important to allow myself to be vulnerable. It’s important for me to be able to tune in to my needs. What does it really mean to take care of myself? Is basketball enough? No, it’s probably not. Taking care of myself also means being reflective, lessening the distractions, and learning when it’s time to let go.

Life has its ups and downs. From both there are important lessons to learn. Most of the time this quarter has been good. The last few have been down. What I appreciate most about the down times is that, at least for me, it reconnects me with things about which I’m passionate. When things are going well, it’s easy for me to get caught in the flow. When things are down, I think about more about how I miss writing, traveling, volunteering, running, interviewing interesting people, hanging out with friends, and other thins that bring me joy.

I recently committed to writing a book on personal branding. While many people see personal branding as a way to self promote. I see it as a way to build a reputation based on integrity and an understanding your authentic self. In beginning to write the book, I didn’t start by focusing on social media or networking, but rather ways to learn about one’s self. This requires a person to understand their strengths and their weaknesses. Normally, I say that a person should focus on their strengths and rely on others where they fall short. I still agree this is the best way to share duties in an organization. But when the weakness is inhibiting you from allowing you happiness, it’s something you need to work on.

Learning to lean is a big step for me. Actually practicing will be step two.

The Soulful Business Is Here

In his article Creating Shared Value, Michael Porter writes, “The capitalist system is under siege. In recent years business increasingly has been viewed as a major cause of social, environment, and economic problems. Companies are widely perceived to be prospering at the expense of the broader community.”

While this may be true, it is also true that there is a growing number of businesses growing to combat just these issues. Sure, there are numerous cases of late (Enron, General Motors, Lehman Brothers, etc.) who provide plenty of illustrations of how business is not to be run. However, take a look at Fast Company, Good.is, or Idealist.org and you’ll find there are several companies full of individuals who have a passion to change the world—positively. For many, CSR (corporate social responsibility) is not a marketing tool, but a way of life. In fact, the landscape of business is changing to greatly, new business forms are beginning to emerge. A few years ago, nobody had heard of the “B Corp.” Now, a quick glance at http://www.bcorporation.net/ shows there are now 517 certified B Corps generating $2.9 billion, covering 60 industries, and maintaining $2 million in annual savings.

The presence of profit does not necessarily indicate a void in soul. 

Round Two of Network BGI Was a Success!

Round two of Network BGI was another success. Opened by Gifford Pinchot III himself and flawlessly emceed by current student Kyle Capizzi, we again accomplished an event that people found both valuable and enjoyable. Last night we tried something new, using a modified version of The World Café model as a way to facilitate meaningful conversation. We had a solid representation from both hybrid and metro students as well as the general public. An extra special thanks goes out to our table topic leaders Jimmy Jia, Bob Gunn, Stanley Florek, and Hoby Douglass. Other distinguished guests in attendance included Fortunado Vega (Chair of Partnerships & Sponsors at MIT Enterprise Forum of the Northwest) and Maureen Takaoka (Business Development Events Manager for the Washington Clean Technology Alliance).

We’re always looking for ways to improve our events to add value to you. If you have any feedback, please send your ideas, issues, and proposed resolutions to rsvp@bgi.edu. Our next Network BGI Community Social will take place on April 26, 2012 and, in conjunction with the BGI alumni weekend, will include an alumni career panel. Register for free and check out photos of our last event.

Why Diversity Matters – How to Create The Creative Class

It’s Sunday, February 19, 2012, and I’m writing this while taking the occasional pause to appreciate the beautiful view of the Pacific Northwest the window seat of Amtrak train number 506 is affording me. This Thursday I found myself in Portland, Oregon for the Green Proessionals Conference 2012. All in all, I’d say the event was fairly successful. Although it didn’t provide the recruiting opportunities we would have liked to see, we made connections that can grow into deep and meaningful relationships. The breakout sessions were solid, including such topics as integrating sustainability throughout the supply chain, social media tools driving sustainability, and others. However, my major critique of these types of events remains—almost every attendee looked the same. Again, the usual suspects, those who treat the increasing number of trade shows and conferences as a circuit they must complete made up the vast majority of those who showed up that day.

However, after about an hour of repeatedly delivering the same elevator speech a young black gentleman from Portland OIC (POIC) approached me. At his side was another black youth, probably around 16 years of age who was interested in just about any opportunity that would secure a positive future. He didn’t really have any questions about BGI, but rather questions about how often I used math in my professional career (he was struggling in math and was hoping that it wasn’t important after school—it is), where I was from, and what types of things he should be doing to make sure he would have a chance to one day go to graduate school.

That young adolescent immediately transported me to my youth. In him I saw a lot of myself: a young man desperately fighting to gain access to the institutions the system is designed to deny him. We interviewed each other for about an hour as we talked about everything from math to life choices and work experiences. At lunch I learned more about POIC when their executive director explaind the program follwed by a speech by one of the students. As forks clanked against the plates I looked around the room to see that, besides the students at POIC, I was the only black person in the room. Yes…really. Even in 2012…

I was planning on leaving Thursday night or Friday morning to head back to Seattle. I decided to stay. I needed to learn more about this program and how they worked. I spoke with the gentleman who originally approached me and found that he was Career Coach and Youth Advocate with them. He thought it was important for the group of kids to attend events like this and even more important for them to meet people with whom they can relate. We arranged a meeting for me to meet with their executive team. We decided the meeting would take place about thirty minutes prior to their first annual talent show so I could get a look the kids begin themseleves, without being an obvious observer. It was magical to see a group of young men and women, who everybody else has given up on, in a completely supportive environment, not to mention that they were truly talented. They were all either amazing singers, rappers, dancers, poets, etc. I remember thinking, “It’s amazing what you can do when you’re forced to be creative your entire life.”

How do we cultivate creativity? I think one of the best ways is by embracing diversity. I don’t just mean diversity with regards to race, but rather diversity of skill, backgrounds, interests, religion, class, etc. With contact with different types of people, we are free to explore things we would never be exposed to otherwise. Of course we need to build into our value structure an appreciation for the arts, play, etc., but for me, it’s been the exposure to other types of people and cultures that have brought me the largest gains in creativity.