Reflections on the lazy CEO

About a year ago I was sitting in LAX.  We had just finished our annual national park hiking trip in Yosemite.  While my husband and I were waiting for our flight I had a chance to gaze at the planes, the different people, and consider the concept of going places, and where am I going?  For the literalist, Austin, TX, but for the bit more creative, I knew my MBA graduation was now under a year away.  Where was I going to go?

I decided on the fly (insert ba-da-bum-ching for my pun) that someday I'll be a CEO, and so I better begin preparing myself as if that's really the track I am on.

My friend, Ben Haley, a fellow student in my cohort told me about an article his prior CEO had written.  I asked for the link in May, and have waited to read it for a time that I could really sit down and READ it.  So here I am in August, post graduation, and I finally have had a chance to read it for the first time.  The article is titled: The Lazy CEO. (For your convenience, I've provided the link here: http://texasceomagazine.com/tag/joel-trammel/).

Last Sunday, after leaving church, I contemplated Christian leadership.  There's the running joke in many churches that the right answer in Sunday School is always the first person to say "Jesus".  Through the school years and into adulthood I find this concept prevails.  In Sunday School you still find the people with the "right answers", and there's this obligation to "help out" the teacher by providing an answer, a fix, to the questions they pose to the class.  We're taught to be problem solvers, in a pretty direct, non facilitative way. Silence is awkwardness, and to the outgoing helpful student, you think you do a favor to all to close the silence with a nice pretty bow.  And the answer is "Jesus".

But Jesus and his leadership wasn't a pretty bow.  I loved how in the story about the Pharisees and writing in the sand that Jesus could have just called all of them out on the crap they've pulled as they attempted to stone a woman for her infidelity.  Yet he was directly subtle.  His response was empowering to dialogue.  He didn't GIVE the answer.  By how he engaged in dialogue (writing in the sand), he empowered each one to turn, drop the stone, and be a bit less knee jerk reactive.  It wasn't a pretty bow, a flat fix it answer... but talk about effective to the core.

And let's flash sideways (a LOST reference to any fellow fans) back to Joel Trammel's article on the "Lazy CEO".  There's again this idea of empowerment... of direct subtlety.  Joel does a great job of showing engagement beyond the fix it mentality prevalent in so many organizations today.  We're all taught to be problem solvers.  To focus on what I bring to the table.  We want to shine.  We want to be the one with all the answers.

For many Christian leaders, having all the answers means embodying the answers.  Joel focuses on employing the right answers, and then as CEO utilizing vision and proper context to fashion the proactive response.  This may come through a direct answer, but more often then not, there's an empowerment undertone that's directing the tide of culture and innovation.

There's still room for me to grow.  Sometimes more than I'd like to admit.  My MBA has done more for me than to feel equipped with pat answers.  I know there's a whole orchestrating to leadership that I'm much more aware of now. 

I look forward to the day and opportunity to serve as CEO, but for now, the best practice is subtle leadership directly from the position God has currently equipped me with.  Rather than fault find with systems or co-workers or be the one who has to shine or seek approval... there's a way to continue to challenge myself and my organization for better without the office usual suspects of gossip or complaint.  There are opportunities to encourage and empower those around me to achieve their best and gain a vision for what that means in each of their specialties.  I don't have to feel insecure or threatened by those that shine.  To have subtly played a role in their success is the greater achievement.

And the Post We've All Been Waiting for...

Graduation Day 8.4.2012

After two intensive years, the day has finally come- Graduation.

It's like after typing that sentence, I just feel done... like there's nothing more to say, or perhaps I just want to sit there, staring at those words to really soak it in. 

Of course it hasn't fully sunk in... after all we do have two more weeks of class to finish out our capstone presentations.  And, hearing from my other classmates we all still have guests in town, and I'll be the first to say between graduation parties and guests and other commitments, I haven't stopped running for 3 days straight.

That too, after determining to take a weeks vacation right before graduation.  Matt and I called it our Babymoon, and we enjoyed 7 days in beautiful Mexico.  It has always been important to me to find that work-life balance, and it was a great time to spend together away from the pressures of work, presentations and deadlines.  We swam with sea turtles, laid out in the sun, kayaked, rappelled, and he even zip lined.  All this to celebrate our monumental year where he graduated from Texas State as a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology and we found out we were pregnant and now my graduation.

We also celebrated with a party at our house.  Nearly 50 people packed into our 1600 sq ft house, and we had a desserts bar catered by my friend Paige Morgan of Paige's Bakehouse.  Since I missed the pinning ceremony at Concordia while I was in Mexico, I dedicated my pins at my party.  Pins went to my wonderful husband, to those who provided me scholarships and then to my mentors, Teri Hill, Dr. Edna Rehbein and Scott Alarcon.  We then passed around cake pops to everyone, counted to three and everyone bit in to display a blue center- We're having a boy!!!

In a few closing posts I hope to evaluate more about what my MBA means to me, and even update how our capstone presentations go.  For now, I'm just going to focus on finishing strong, and trying to keep my 4.0 in these last two weeks, when my mind is thinking about preparing for our little one, and trying to not fully check out... seeing as how I've already walked and all.  Guess all that's left to do is as the title of one our texts said- to Walk Out and Walk On.